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Security report for royalmailgroup.com

International Distribution Services plc · Transportation · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in Email security, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

60/100

Risk levelMedium

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

International Distribution Services plc is a large UK-based holding company primarily managing Royal Mail and GLS, two major players in the postal and parcel delivery industry. The company focuses on providing mail and parcel distribution services across the UK and Europe, targeting businesses, investors, and customers requiring reliable logistics solutions. The website reflects a professional corporate presence with consistent branding and clear navigation, supporting its market position as a key logistics provider. Technically, the website employs modern JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Slick Carousel, uses Google Tag Manager for analytics, and implements Cookiebot for cookie consent management. The CMS identified is Umbraco, indicating a mature content management approach. Performance and mobile optimization are good, with accessibility and SEO features well implemented. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent mechanisms, but lacks explicit security headers and published security policies or incident response contacts. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the HTML content. The absence of WHOIS registration data reduces trust slightly, but the presence of official company registration details and consistent branding mitigates concerns. Overall, the website is secure, professional, and compliant with privacy regulations, though improvements in transparency around security policies and incident response are recommended to enhance trust and compliance.

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

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  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 royalmailgroup.com

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.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

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

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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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
15
Email security
40
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
60

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

International Distribution Services plc holds a strong market position as the parent company of Royal Mail and GLS, serving the transportation sector with parcel and mail delivery services. Its business model centers on managing these subsidiaries to provide comprehensive logistics solutions across multiple countries. The company targets a broad audience including businesses requiring distribution services and investors interested in the logistics market. Strategic partnerships and subsidiaries such as Collect+ expand its multi-channel delivery capabilities. The website content and linked domains reflect a well-established ecosystem with clear growth and sustainability initiatives, including published ESG reports. The company demonstrates a mature digital presence aligned with its corporate stature.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to strong security posture with enforced HTTPS, cookie consent mechanisms, and no visible exposure of sensitive data. However, the lack of published security policies, incident response contacts, and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or X-Content-Type-Options indicates room for improvement. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt files were found, which are best practices for corporate transparency. The absence of WHOIS data is a concern but may be due to privacy protection. Overall, the security maturity is adequate for a corporate site but could be enhanced by formalizing security documentation and improving header configurations.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page outlining security practices and compliance.
  2. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  3. Implement and configure security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  4. Regularly audit and update third-party scripts to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Consider publishing a vulnerability disclosure policy or security.txt file to improve transparency and trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
International Distribution Services plc
Registration number
8680755
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
International Distribution Services plc
Description
International Distribution Services is a holding company for Royal Mail and GLS, focusing on parcel and mail distribution services internationally. It operates in the transportation and logistics sector, providing mail and parcel delivery services across multiple countries.
Key services
Parcel delivery, Mail services, Logistics solutions
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Slick Carousel, Google Tag Manager, Cookiebot
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Cookiebot
Marketing tools
Cookiebot
Transparency
good

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented and relevant to the business.
  3. Strong branding alignment with Royal Mail and GLS.
  4. Privacy and cookie policies are present and comprehensive.
  5. No direct company contact emails or phone numbers found on main pages; contact is via forms or external links.
  6. WHOIS data is missing, which is unusual for a corporate domain.
  7. No explicit security policy or incident response information published.
  8. Use of modern JavaScript libraries and cookie consent tools.
  9. Social media presence is consistent with corporate identity.
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern technology stack including jQuery, Slick Carousel, Google Tag Manager, and Cookiebot for analytics and consent management. The CMS is Umbraco, a robust enterprise-level platform. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and good accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with asynchronous loading of scripts and CSS optimizations. No major technical debt or deprecated technologies were detected. Hosting provider details are not explicitly available. The site uses standard SEO meta tags and Open Graph tags for social media integration. Overall, the technical implementation supports a professional and user-friendly experience with opportunities to enhance security headers and incident response capabilities.
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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