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Security report for researchbydesign.co.uk

Research by Design Ltd · Other · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

63/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Research by Design Ltd is a specialized market research agency focused on serving membership organizations. Established in 1994 and operating under the parent company Box Delta Insights, it holds a leading position in its niche market. The company offers a broad range of services including member engagement, value proposition development, diversity and inclusion research, and sector benchmarking. Their client base includes prominent professional bodies and associations, supported by strong testimonials and case studies. The website reflects a professional and trustworthy brand image with clear communication of services and client success stories. Technically, the website is built on WordPress and leverages modern web technologies such as Google reCAPTCHA for form security, Yoast SEO for search optimization, and Cloudflare for hosting and domain registration. The site is mobile-optimized, fast-loading, and accessible, with comprehensive SEO metadata and structured data enhancing its digital maturity. Privacy and cookie policies are present with consent mechanisms, indicating good compliance with GDPR requirements. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate and employs clientTransferProhibited status on the domain to prevent unauthorized transfers. However, DNSSEC is not enabled, and security headers are not explicitly detected, suggesting room for improvement. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. Incident response and security policy documents are not publicly available, which could be enhanced to improve transparency and readiness. Overall, the website presents a low-risk profile with strong business credibility and good privacy compliance. Strategic recommendations include enabling DNSSEC, adding security headers, and publishing security policies to further strengthen the security posture and trustworthiness.

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

6 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
    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

  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

  3. 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"

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

Keep watching researchbydesign.co.uk

This scan found 25 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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

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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
37
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
63

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

Research by Design operates in the professional services sector, specifically targeting membership organizations across various industries. Their competitive advantage lies in their specialized focus and long-standing market presence since 1994. The business model revolves around providing tailored market research solutions that help clients improve member engagement, satisfaction, and organizational impact. Revenue streams likely include consulting fees and research project contracts. The company demonstrates growth through partnerships with industry bodies like Memcom and IOSH and maintains a strong client portfolio featuring reputable institutions. The parent company, Box Delta Insights, suggests a broader organizational structure supporting Research by Design's operations. The website's content and client testimonials reinforce a professional and credible market position.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and integration of Google reCAPTCHA to protect forms from abuse. The domain is registered with Cloudflare and has clientTransferProhibited status, reducing risks of unauthorized domain transfers. However, the absence of DNSSEC and missing security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options indicate potential areas for enhancement. No public security or incident response policies were found, which limits transparency and preparedness communication. There is no evidence of exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries. Overall, the security measures are adequate for the business type but could be improved to align with best practices and regulatory expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Publish a formal security policy and incident response plan on the website to enhance transparency and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party libraries and plugins to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance privacy compliance disclosures by detailing data retention policies and user rights.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Box Delta Insights
Registration number
12823861
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Research by Design Ltd
Description
Research by Design empowers membership organisations like yours to identify and prioritise the things that really matter.
Key services
Member Value Proposition (MVP), Member Engagement & Retention, Education, Learning & Development, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I), Lobbying & External Affairs, Member Acquisition, Member Satisfaction & Sector Benchmarking, Students & Early Career, State of the Sector / Profession, Revenue Diversification
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
JavaScript, Google reCAPTCHA, Yoast SEO, Contact Form 7
Performance
fast
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
excellent

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled
  • Google reCAPTCHA on forms
  • ClientTransferProhibited domain status

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is professionally designed and well maintained.
  2. Clear focus on membership market research services.
  3. Strong presence of client logos and testimonials indicating trust.
  4. Good privacy and cookie compliance with explicit consent mechanisms.
  5. Use of modern web technologies and SEO best practices.
  6. No signs of security issues or content blocking.
  7. Contact information is clearly presented with multiple channels.
  8. No evidence of vulnerability disclosure or security policy documents.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with modern front-end technologies including JavaScript and CSS optimizations. It uses Yoast SEO for metadata management and Google reCAPTCHA for form security. Hosting and DNS are managed via Cloudflare, providing performance and security benefits. The site is mobile responsive with good accessibility features and fast loading times. Structured data in JSON-LD format is implemented for SEO enhancement. There is no evidence of deprecated or vulnerable technologies. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable web presence with opportunities to improve security configurations and documentation.
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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