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Security report for steel-sci.com

Steel Construction Institute · Manufacturing · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

53/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Steel Construction Institute (SCI) is a well-established UK-based organization providing independent technical expertise, best practice advice, and certification services to the steel construction sector. With over 40 years of industry presence, SCI serves steel construction professionals, engineers, and members globally through research, consultancy, training, and membership benefits. The website reflects a professional and consistent brand image, offering comprehensive information about services, projects, and membership options. Technically, the website is built on WordPress and leverages modern web technologies including jQuery, Owl Carousel, Featherlight Lightbox, and FontAwesome icons. It uses HTTPS with a presumably strong SSL configuration and integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking. The site is mobile-optimized with good navigation and SEO practices, although accessibility features are basic. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and avoids exposing sensitive data. However, it lacks visible security headers and a cookie consent mechanism, which are recommended for enhanced security and privacy compliance. The absence of WHOIS registrant data raises some concerns about domain registration transparency, but the website content and external references support its legitimacy. Overall, the site presents a low-risk profile with good business credibility and technical implementation. Strategic improvements in privacy compliance and security headers would further strengthen its posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
53/ 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. 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';…

  2. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

  3. 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

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.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
47
Security headers
45
Email security
75
DNS health
75
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
53
Average
53

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.

Brand lookalikes

Add-on

Domains that imitate steel-sci.com and could be used for phishing or spoofed email, tracked in OffSeq Breach.

Tracked
1
Registered
1
Resolving
1
High or critical
0

Last checked 2026-06-25

Masked preview

  • st•••••••.comMediumtransposition

See the full lookalike list

A one-off add-on that lists up to 20 of the highest-risk lookalikes of steel-sci.com with registration, mail-server, certificate and DNS signals.

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Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

SCI occupies a leading position as an independent technical authority in the steel construction industry, targeting professionals and organizations requiring expert advice, certification, and training. Its business model is primarily non-profit or industry association-based, focusing on knowledge dissemination and member services. Revenue streams likely include membership fees, training course fees, certification services, and consultancy. The organization maintains partnerships with related domains such as scicerts.com and steelconstruction.info, enhancing its ecosystem. The website content and structure indicate a mature digital presence with consistent branding and trust signals, supporting its market reputation.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate to good security maturity level with mandatory HTTPS enabled and no obvious exposure of sensitive information. However, the lack of security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection reduces its defense-in-depth. There is no evidence of a published security policy, incident response plan, or vulnerability disclosure mechanism, which are important for compliance and transparency. The absence of a cookie consent banner indicates partial GDPR compliance. Overall, the security posture is adequate but could be improved by implementing recommended headers, privacy controls, and incident response documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Implement standard security headers (CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection) to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  2. Add a cookie consent mechanism to comply fully with GDPR and improve user privacy transparency.
  3. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to demonstrate security governance and readiness.
  4. Create and host a security.txt file to facilitate responsible vulnerability disclosure.
  5. Review WHOIS registration details and ensure transparency or justified privacy protection to improve domain trustworthiness.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Steel Construction Institute
Description
The Steel Construction Institute (SCI) is the leading, independent provider of technical expertise and best practice advice to the steel construction sector in the UK and globally. It offers research, advice, support, training, certification, and consultancy services.
Key services
Technical expertise and advice, Product certification, Training and events, Research projects, Membership services, Consultancy
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery, Owl Carousel, Featherlight Lightbox, Google Fonts, FontAwesome 6, Google Tag Manager, WooCommerce
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of Google Tag Manager for analytics

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

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 rich content and navigation
  2. No WAF or blocking detected
  3. WHOIS data is missing or unavailable, raising some trust concerns
  4. Website uses HTTPS and modern web technologies
  5. Privacy policy and terms of service pages are present
  6. No cookie consent mechanism detected
  7. Contact information is clearly provided
  8. Social media presence on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
  9. Website is focused on steel construction industry expertise and services
Technical notes

Notes

The website is powered by WordPress CMS with a combination of JavaScript libraries including jQuery, Owl Carousel for sliders, Featherlight for lightbox functionality, and FontAwesome for icons. Google Fonts are used for typography. Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics are integrated for analytics and marketing tracking. The site uses a responsive design with mobile optimization and good SEO meta tags. Performance is moderate, with some potential for optimization in loading speed and accessibility enhancements. No major technical debt or outdated libraries were detected in the provided HTML content.
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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