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Security report for polycell.co.uk

AkzoNobel Paints · Retail · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 2 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

69/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

Polycell.co.uk is a UK-focused retail website offering a range of wood fillers, Polyfilla, and adhesives under the AkzoNobel Paints brand. The site targets DIY consumers seeking home improvement products and advice. The business operates as a large entity with a strong corporate parent, AkzoNobel, and provides product information, tutorials, and store locator services. Technically, the site is built on Adobe Experience Manager and uses modern JavaScript libraries and marketing tools such as Google Tag Manager and OneTrust for cookie consent. However, the site suffers from a lack of a valid SSL certificate, resulting in insecure HTTP delivery, which significantly impacts its security posture. Performance is slow with a large page size and long load times. Privacy compliance is well addressed with clear privacy and cookie policies and consent mechanisms. Contact information is primarily via a contact form, with no direct emails or phone numbers found on the homepage. Overall, the site is professional and consistent in branding but requires urgent security improvements to protect user data and enhance trust.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
58/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

2 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching polycell.co.uk

This scan found 12 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

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  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
50
Security headers
70
Email security
50
DNS health
85
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
58
Average
69

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

Polycell operates as a key brand within the AkzoNobel group, focusing on home improvement retail products in the UK market. The business model centers on product sales supported by educational content and store location services. The website reflects a mature digital presence with integration of marketing and analytics tools. The lack of direct contact details on the homepage suggests a focus on digital engagement and self-service. The partnership with AkzoNobel provides strong market positioning and brand recognition. The site’s content and navigation are well structured to support customer journeys from product discovery to purchase. Growth opportunities may lie in improving site performance and expanding direct customer support channels.

Security posture

The website currently exhibits a low security maturity level due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate, exposing users to potential data interception risks. No security headers are implemented, and advanced SSL features like HSTS and OCSP stapling are disabled. There is no visible security or incident response policy, nor a vulnerability disclosure program. While cookie consent is managed via OneTrust, the lack of HTTPS undermines overall data protection efforts. The site should prioritize obtaining a valid SSL certificate and implementing security headers to mitigate risks. Additionally, publishing clear security policies and incident response contacts would improve transparency and readiness.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and deploy a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Implement security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  3. Enable HSTS with includeSubDomains and preload to enforce secure connections.
  4. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information on the website.
  5. Optimize website performance by reducing page size and improving load times.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Adobe Experience Manager CMS, leveraging JavaScript, jQuery, and modern video embedding technologies. It integrates marketing and analytics tools including Google Tag Manager and OneTrust for cookie consent management. Hosting is via Amazon AWS infrastructure. Despite a modern tech stack, the site suffers from slow load times and lacks a valid SSL certificate, which is a critical technical deficiency. Accessibility and SEO optimizations are present and appear good. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design. Technical debt is indicated by missing security best practices and performance inefficiencies, which should be addressed to improve user experience and security.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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