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Security report for popeshightown.co.uk

Popes Hightown Ltd · Energy · United Kingdom

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

44/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Popes Hightown Ltd is a small, family-owned UK-based company specializing in land drainage and pipeline installation services with over 50 years of experience. The company operates primarily in the North West of England but also services clients across the UK and Europe. Their key offerings include specialist trenching, waste water treatment, plant hire, and horse riding arena construction. The website is professionally designed using WordPress, featuring clear navigation, good mobile optimization, and integration of security features such as Google reCAPTCHA. However, the absence of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS enabled but lacking advanced security headers and published security policies. WHOIS data is unavailable due to domain registration errors, which raises concerns about domain legitimacy despite the professional appearance and trust indicators on the site. Overall, the website presents a credible business front but would benefit from improved compliance and transparency.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
35/ 100 · High
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

9 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 Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • 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 Privacy Policy found

      GDPR requires a clear and accessible privacy policy

      What to do: Add a comprehensive privacy policy page and link to it prominently

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

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

Keep watching popeshightown.co.uk

This scan found 27 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
47
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
60
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
44

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

The company holds a strong market position as a leading land drainage service provider in its region, leveraging unique equipment capabilities such as the only UK operator of a specialist horizontal de-watering deep trencher. Their business model focuses on service provision to agricultural and construction sectors, supported by memberships in recognized industry bodies (CHAS, CPCS, NAAC). The website content targets farmers, construction companies, and estate owners, emphasizing reliability and professionalism. The lack of detailed company registration data and domain registration inconsistencies suggest a need for further due diligence. The partnership with a local web design firm indicates a focus on maintaining a professional digital presence.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and integrates Google reCAPTCHA to protect forms, reflecting basic security hygiene. However, it lacks visible security headers and published security or incident response policies, which are important for compliance and trust. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the content. The absence of privacy and cookie policies is a compliance gap, especially under GDPR. The WHOIS data failure and domain registration anomaly present a potential risk factor. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be significantly improved with enhanced policies, headers, and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security to enhance protection.
  3. Publish a security policy and incident response contact information to build trust and readiness.
  4. Verify and resolve domain registration inconsistencies to ensure legitimacy and reduce risk.
  5. Regularly update WordPress core and plugins to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Popes Hightown Ltd
Description
Popes Hightown Ltd is a well-established family owned and operated business based in Hightown, Merseyside, with over 50 years of experience. They provide specialist land drainage services, pipeline installation, specialist trenching, waste water treatment, horse riding arena construction, plant hire, and other related services primarily in the North West of England and across the UK and Europe.
Key services
Drainage, Specialist Trenching, Pipeline Installation, Waste Water Treatment, Horse Riding Arenas, Plant Hire, Other related services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, jQuery, Contact Form 7, Google reCAPTCHA, FontAwesome, Google Fonts
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
Web
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • Use of Contact Form 7 plugin with reCAPTCHA integration

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google reCAPTCHA
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and no blocking detected.
  2. No privacy or cookie policies found, indicating compliance gaps.
  3. Contact information is present but limited to email and phone without physical address.
  4. No explicit security or incident response policies published.
  5. WHOIS data unavailable due to domain registration error, raising legitimacy concerns.
  6. Website uses modern WordPress CMS with common plugins and Google reCAPTCHA.
  7. No advertising or tracking beyond reCAPTCHA detected.
  8. Content is business-focused and safe for general audiences.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with common plugins including Contact Form 7 and Google reCAPTCHA, indicating a standard and maintainable technical stack. The use of jQuery and FontAwesome is typical for such sites. Performance is moderate with good mobile responsiveness and SEO meta tags present. Accessibility features are basic but present. Hosting provider details are not disclosed. The site uses modern fonts and icons, and the design is consistent and professional. Opportunities exist to improve technical security configurations and add compliance-related content.
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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