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Security report for sse.com

SSE plc · Energy · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and SSL/TLS.

Security score

70/100

Risk levelMedium

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

SSE plc is a major UK-based energy company focused on delivering cleaner, homegrown energy through investments in renewable technologies such as offshore wind, hydro, and battery storage. The company operates across multiple segments including renewables, thermal generation, transmission, and distribution, serving a broad audience including investors, customers, and job seekers. The website reflects a mature digital presence with comprehensive investor relations, sustainability initiatives, and career opportunities. Technically, the site uses modern web technologies including Umbraco CMS, Google Tag Manager, and various analytics and tracking tools, with good mobile optimization and accessibility features. Security posture is strong with HTTPS enforced and cookie consent mechanisms in place, though explicit security policies and incident response contacts are not found. Overall, the website is professional, trustworthy, and aligned with industry best practices, though WHOIS data is unavailable for the www subdomain queried, which slightly impacts domain trust analysis.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
83/ 100 · Low
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

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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 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';…

  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
    • 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

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

Keep watching sse.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.

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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
25
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
83
Average
70

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

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention sse.com, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1,102
Employees
71
Customers
630
Third parties
401
Weak passwords
12%

Latest record dated 2026-06-13 · 21 subdomains affected

See the 10 newest leaked credentials

A one-off add-on to this report that lists the most recent identifier and password pairs OffSeq Breach holds for sse.com.

Select it in the checkout above.

Masked preview

  • –adfs.sse.com2026-06-13
  • –mrpolicy1.sse.com2026-06-13
  • –adfs.sse.com2026-06-10
  • –adfs.sse.com2026-06-09
  • –adfs.sse.com2026-06-06

Breach keeps ingesting new leaks, so these numbers can grow between scans.

Open in Breach(opens in a new tab)Monitor on Breach(opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

SSE plc holds a strong market position as a leading energy provider in the UK and Ireland, with a strategic focus on renewable energy and grid modernization. Its business model integrates energy generation, transmission, and retail, supported by significant capital investments exceeding £17.5 billion. The company targets investors, sustainability advocates, and workforce talent, leveraging a diversified portfolio of subsidiaries specialized in renewables, thermal, and energy solutions. SSE's competitive advantage lies in its scale, commitment to net zero goals, and comprehensive governance and reporting frameworks. The partnership ecosystem includes multiple subsidiary domains and active engagement on social media platforms. Growth indicators include ongoing infrastructure projects and community benefit initiatives. The company maintains a transparent and professional online presence, supporting investor confidence and stakeholder engagement.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS, cookie consent compliance, and use of reputable analytics and tracking services. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. However, the absence of explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and a security.txt file indicates room for improvement in transparency and readiness. Security headers are partially implied but not explicitly documented. The site follows GDPR compliance with clear privacy and cookie policies. Overall, the security maturity is good but could be enhanced by publishing detailed security governance documents and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy page including incident response procedures and contact information.
  2. Implement and document comprehensive security headers such as X-Frame-Options and X-Content-Type-Options.
  3. Add a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  4. Regularly review and audit third-party scripts and tracking tools for security and privacy compliance.
  5. Enhance transparency on data retention policies and user privacy controls.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
SSE plc
Description
SSE plc is a leading energy company investing in homegrown energy, including offshore wind farms, grid transformation, and renewable energy solutions across the UK and Ireland.
Key services
Renewable energy generation, Electricity transmission and distribution, Energy solutions and markets, Offshore and onshore wind, Hydro power, Battery storage, Thermal energy, Carbon capture and storage, Hydrogen energy
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, Google Fonts (Montserrat), jQuery Mousewheel, Umbraco Forms, Google Maps API
Frameworks
Umbraco CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
excellent
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent mechanism implemented
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of modern analytics and tracking scripts with consent

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Hotjar, Facebook Pixel, Twitter Analytics, LinkedIn Insight
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Ad networks
Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads
Tracking pixels
Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Google Analytics (via GTM)
Marketing tools
Hotjar
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 navigation
  2. Strong focus on sustainability and renewable energy
  3. Comprehensive investor relations and corporate governance information
  4. Cookie consent mechanism implemented and GDPR compliant
  5. No exposed sensitive data or obvious security vulnerabilities
  6. Use of modern web technologies and analytics tools
  7. WHOIS data unavailable for www.sse.com, possibly due to query on subdomain or privacy protection
  8. No explicit security policy or incident response contact found
  9. No phone numbers or physical addresses explicitly listed in HTML content
  10. Social media presence on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Bluesky
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on the Umbraco CMS platform, leveraging modern front-end technologies including Google Fonts, jQuery plugins, and various analytics and marketing scripts such as Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, and LinkedIn Insight. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility considerations. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in script loading and asset management. The technical infrastructure supports a professional and scalable digital presence suitable for an enterprise energy company. Opportunities exist to improve technical SEO and security header implementation to further enhance site robustness and compliance.
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

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 53/100Medium13 findings · partial scanView report
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