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Security report for prospects.ac.uk

Prospects · Education · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 5 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Prospects is a well-established UK-based online platform providing comprehensive career guidance, job search, and postgraduate study advice primarily targeting students and graduates. It operates under the parent company Jisc, a reputable organization in the education sector. The website offers a rich set of services including job matching, course search, career advice, and employer advertising, positioning itself as a key resource for UK higher education and career development. Technically, the site employs modern web technologies such as AngularJS, integrates multiple analytics and marketing tools, and demonstrates good performance and mobile optimization. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforcement and appropriate security headers, though there is room for improvement in publishing explicit security policies and incident response contacts. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with privacy regulations, though WHOIS data is unavailable likely due to privacy protection, which is justified for this business type.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 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

5 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak Protocols Supported

      Server supports weak protocols: TLSv1.1

      What to do: Disable TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and all SSL versions

      • CWE-327
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V12.1.1

  2. 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';…

  3. 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 prospects.ac.uk

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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
67
Security headers
20
Email security
90
DNS health
65
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
68

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

Prospects holds a strong market position as a leading career and postgraduate study advice platform in the UK, leveraging its affiliation with Jisc to enhance credibility. Its business model revolves around providing free guidance content to students and graduates while monetizing through employer advertising and university recruitment packages. The platform targets a niche audience of UK higher education students and graduates, offering tailored job and course search functionalities. The presence of multiple social media channels and partnerships with education-related organizations indicates a robust ecosystem and growth potential. The company maintains a large-scale operation with consistent branding and high-quality content, supporting its competitive advantage in the education sector.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with enforced HTTPS, comprehensive security headers, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. The use of third-party analytics and marketing scripts is managed with cookie consent mechanisms, supporting privacy compliance. However, the absence of a publicly accessible security policy or incident response contact limits transparency in security governance. There is no evidence of vulnerability disclosure programs or security.txt files, which could enhance trust and incident management readiness. Overall, the security measures are adequate for the business context but could be strengthened by formalizing security policies and response channels.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and commitments.
  2. Establish and publicize an incident response contact or abuse email for security issues.
  3. Implement a vulnerability disclosure program or security.txt file to encourage responsible reporting.
  4. Regularly review and update third-party scripts to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance user data protection by auditing form inputs and ensuring robust sanitization.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Jisc
Registration number
02881024 (England)
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Prospects
Description
Prospects guides students and graduates every step of the way. Explore courses, find jobs, and get expert guidance.
Key services
Job search, Course search, Career advice, Postgraduate study guidance, Employer advertising
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
AngularJS, Google Fonts, Select2, Visual Website Optimizer, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, Bing Ads, Modernizr
Frameworks
AngularJS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Security headers present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of secure cookies (implied by HTTPS)
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics (via GTM), Facebook Analytics, TikTok Analytics, Bing Ads Analytics, Visual Website Optimizer
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Bing Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel
Marketing tools
Visual Website Optimizer
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with rich content and interactive features.
  2. Strong focus on career and postgraduate study advice for UK students and graduates.
  3. Comprehensive navigation with multiple categorized menus and search facets.
  4. Use of multiple third-party analytics and marketing tools with cookie consent.
  5. No visible security or privacy policy gaps on the main site.
  6. WHOIS data is unavailable, likely due to privacy protection by the registrar.
  7. Social media presence is strong across major platforms.
  8. No signs of adult or questionable content.
  9. No exposed sensitive data or obvious vulnerabilities detected in HTML content.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built using AngularJS framework and integrates several modern web technologies including Google Fonts, Select2 for enhanced UI components, and Visual Website Optimizer for A/B testing. It employs multiple analytics and marketing tools such as Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, and Bing Ads, indicating a sophisticated digital marketing strategy. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features, contributing to a positive user experience. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in load times by optimizing third-party scripts. Hosting details are not explicitly identified, but the presence of CDN and external resources suggests a distributed infrastructure. Overall, the technical implementation is solid with opportunities for modernization and performance tuning.
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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