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Security report for sebden.com

Sebden Steel · Manufacturing · United Kingdom

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in Network security, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

49/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Sebden Steel is a large, privately owned steel processing and stockholding company operating across the UK and Ireland. They position themselves as the largest mill-independent steel processor in the region, offering a wide range of steel products and supply chain services from multiple strategic locations. Their business model focuses on supply chain innovation, product development, and long-term customer partnerships, targeting industrial and manufacturing sectors. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image with clear business messaging and a strong social media presence. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern technologies including jQuery, Font Awesome, and Google reCAPTCHA for form security. SEO is enhanced by Yoast SEO plugin, and analytics are implemented via WP Statistics and Google Analytics. The site is mobile optimized and performs moderately well, though accessibility features are basic. Security posture is good with HTTPS enforced and CAPTCHA protection, but lacks some security headers and explicit security policies. From a security perspective, the site shows no signs of blocking or WAF interference, and no critical vulnerabilities were detected in the content or scripts. However, the absence of privacy and cookie policies indicates compliance gaps, especially regarding GDPR. The WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, which raises concerns about domain registration transparency and trustworthiness, although the website content and business information appear legitimate. Overall, the site is professional and business-focused with a solid technical foundation but would benefit from enhanced privacy compliance and improved domain registration transparency to strengthen trust and security posture.

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. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • High

      High-Risk Service Exposed: FTP

      Port 21 (FTP) is publicly accessible - FTP - Often unencrypted file transfer

      What to do: Consider restricting access to FTP or implementing strong authentication

      • NIS2 21(2)(e)
      • IR 2024/2690 6.7.2(f): Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690, Annex point 6.7.2(f): Network security
      • NIST CM-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-7: Least Functionality
      • NIST SC-7: NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-7: Boundary Protection

  2. 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

  3. 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

    • 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 sebden.com

This scan found 23 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
47
Security headers
15
Email security
98
DNS health
80
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
49

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

Sebden Steel holds a strong market position as the largest privately owned mill-independent steel processor in the UK and Ireland, with annual sales exceeding £275 million. Their competitive advantage lies in their extensive stockholding capacity, nationwide distribution network, and focus on supply chain innovation and product development. The company targets industrial buyers and manufacturers requiring steel products and processing services. Their business model is B2B, emphasizing long-term partnerships and customer support. The parent company, Sebden Holdings Ltd, suggests a broader corporate structure. The company demonstrates growth through strategic acquisitions and ongoing investment in production efficiency. Their digital presence supports brand awareness and customer engagement through multiple social media channels and a professionally maintained website.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level. HTTPS is properly implemented, and Google reCAPTCHA is used to protect forms from automated abuse. However, the absence of key security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options limits protection against certain web attacks. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the provided content. The lack of published security policies or incident response information indicates potential gaps in formal security governance and transparency. Compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations is unclear due to missing privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a corporate informational site but could be improved with enhanced headers, policies, and transparency.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies with explicit user consent mechanisms to improve GDPR compliance.
  2. Add security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen web security.
  3. Publish security and incident response policies to enhance transparency and preparedness.
  4. Regularly audit and update WordPress plugins and dependencies to mitigate vulnerabilities.
  5. Improve accessibility features to ensure compliance with accessibility standards and enhance user experience.

Contact details published on the site

Legal name
Sebden Steel Service Centres
Registration number
2553464
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Sebden Steel
Description
The largest privately owned mill-independent steel processors and stockholders of strip mill and reversing mill plate products in the UK & Ireland
Key services
Steel processing, Stockholding, Supply chain innovation, Product development, Customer support
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, PHP, jQuery, Font Awesome, Google reCAPTCHA, Yoast SEO
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Google reCAPTCHA on forms

Analytics and tracking

Services
WP Statistics, Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (via gtag.js)
Marketing tools
Yoast SEO, WP Statistics
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 no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is professionally presented and relevant to steel processing industry.
  3. No explicit privacy or cookie policies found, indicating potential compliance gaps.
  4. Contact information is primarily via contact forms; no direct emails or phone numbers explicitly found.
  5. Social media presence is strong with multiple verified platforms.
  6. WHOIS data is missing, which is a concern for domain legitimacy verification.
  7. Website uses modern technologies and SEO best practices.
  8. Security posture is good but can be improved with additional headers and policies.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS, leveraging common web technologies such as PHP, jQuery, and Font Awesome icons. It uses Google reCAPTCHA for form security and Yoast SEO for search engine optimization. The site loads external resources from reputable CDNs and Google Fonts, contributing to performance and reliability. Analytics are implemented via WP Statistics and Google Analytics, indicating moderate user tracking. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design elements. However, the absence of some security headers and privacy policies indicates technical debt in security and compliance areas. Performance is moderate, with potential improvements in caching and resource optimization. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid but could benefit from modernization in security and privacy implementations.
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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