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Security report for spar-international.com

SPAR International · Retail · Netherlands

High risk. 8 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 1 other check.

Security score

38/100

Risk levelHigh

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

SPAR International is a well-established global voluntary food retail group founded in 1932, operating over 13,900 stores across 48 countries. The business model focuses on licensed wholesalers and retailers working in partnership to deliver diverse store formats and retail solutions. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive content, clear navigation, and a focus on partner engagement and responsible retailing. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with common plugins and libraries, but suffers from significant security shortcomings including lack of a valid SSL certificate and DNS configuration issues. Privacy compliance is well addressed through Cookiebot consent management and a comprehensive privacy policy. However, the absence of HTTPS and security headers poses risks to user data and trust. Overall, the site is professional and content-rich but requires urgent security improvements to align with best practices and user expectations.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
0/ 100 · Critical
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

8 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

    • 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

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  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 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';…

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

Keep watching spar-international.com

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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
0
Security headers
30
Email security
50
DNS health
50
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
0
Average
38

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

SPAR International holds a strong market position as a large enterprise in the retail sector with a global footprint. Its business model leverages partnerships and licensed operations to expand reach and service offerings. The website supports this with dedicated sections for partners, suppliers, careers, and responsible retailing initiatives. The presence of multiple store formats and localized country sites indicates a tailored approach to diverse markets. The company maintains active social media channels and provides clear contact information, enhancing credibility. Growth indicators include recent news updates and community engagement. The partner ecosystem is supported by a dedicated login portal, reinforcing collaboration. Strategic observations suggest a focus on sustainability, community support, and employee development as key differentiators.

Security posture

The current security posture of the website is weak due to the absence of a valid SSL certificate, which is critical for protecting data in transit. DNS records appear incomplete or misconfigured, which could impact domain resolution and availability. No security headers such as HSTS or CSP are implemented, increasing exposure to common web attacks. Cookie consent is managed effectively via Cookiebot, demonstrating awareness of privacy regulations. However, no explicit security or incident response policies are published, and no vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are evident. The use of third-party scripts and analytics is standard but should be regularly audited. Overall, the site requires immediate remediation of SSL and DNS issues, implementation of security headers, and publication of security policies to improve resilience and compliance.

Recommendations

  1. Obtain and properly configure a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable HTTPS across the entire site.
  2. Review and correct DNS configurations to ensure proper A and AAAA records are present and DNSSEC is enabled.
  3. Implement essential security headers including HSTS, Content Security Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  4. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response contact information to enhance transparency and readiness.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and plugins for vulnerabilities and update them promptly.
  6. Optimize website performance to reduce load times and improve user experience.
  7. Enhance accessibility features to meet recognized standards and improve inclusivity.
  8. Maintain and update privacy compliance mechanisms in line with evolving regulations.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with Yoast SEO plugin, Google Analytics via MonsterInsights, and uses common JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Bootstrap. Cookiebot is integrated for cookie consent management. The site shows good SEO practices with meta tags and structured data (JSON-LD) describing the organization and webpage. Performance is suboptimal with a load time exceeding 11 seconds and a large number of resources (83) contributing to a nearly 500KB page size. Mobile optimization is good with responsive design elements. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. Hosting provider details are not discernible from the data. DNS records are missing or incomplete, which is a critical technical issue. SSL is not valid, indicating either expired or misconfigured certificates. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports the business needs but requires modernization and security hardening.
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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