Skip to main content

Security report for thebic.co.uk

Staffordshire BIC · Government · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 8 critical or high findings in Email security, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

56/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Staffordshire BIC is a regional non-profit organization dedicated to supporting businesses in Staffordshire through free financial, IT, marketing support, workshops, and grant facilitation. The website positions the organization as a trusted partner for local companies seeking innovation and business growth assistance. Technically, the site is built on WordPress with a modern plugin stack, offering good mobile responsiveness and SEO optimization. However, the absence of key security headers and privacy policies indicates room for improvement in security and compliance. The WHOIS data for the domain is unavailable and flagged as invalid by Nominet UK, which raises concerns about domain registration legitimacy but does not detract from the professionalism of the website content. Overall, the site presents a credible business support service with moderate technical maturity and security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 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

8 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. 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

  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 X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

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

Keep watching thebic.co.uk

This scan found 28 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.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

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
37
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
60
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
56

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

The organization targets small to medium Staffordshire businesses, offering essential support services including grants, marketing, finance, and IT. Its partnerships with local councils, universities, and banks enhance its market position. The business model is non-profit and service-oriented, focusing on regional economic development. The website content and testimonials reinforce trust and credibility. The lack of detailed business registration data and privacy policies suggests an opportunity to strengthen transparency and compliance. No direct revenue streams or commercial activities are evident, consistent with a government or non-profit entity.

Security posture

The website uses HTTPS and includes a cookie consent banner, indicating basic security awareness. However, no security headers such as Content-Security-Policy or Strict-Transport-Security were detected, and no vulnerability disclosure or incident response information is published. The absence of privacy and terms of service pages limits GDPR compliance visibility. No analytics or tracking scripts were found, reducing privacy risks but also limiting user behavior insights. The WHOIS data inconsistency is a notable concern, potentially indicating domain registration issues. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be significantly improved with standard security best practices and compliance documentation.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service to improve compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement standard security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, etc.) to enhance protection against common web attacks.
  3. Add a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability reporting and incident response.
  4. Verify and correct domain registration details to ensure WHOIS data consistency and legitimacy.
  5. Conduct a security audit of all forms to ensure secure data handling and prevent injection attacks.

Contact details published on the site

Registration number
Reg No 3065012
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Staffordshire BIC
Description
Helping Staffordshire Business with Innovation & FREE Financial, IT & Marketing support. Providing Workshops, Securing Grants & Funding.
Key services
Business Grants, Marketing Support, Finance Support, IT Support, Events and Workshops
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress 5.9.3, WPBakery Page Builder, Modern Events Calendar Lite plugin, jQuery 3.6.0, FontAwesome 5.15.3, Bootstrap 3.3.4, Redux Framework
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
PHP (implied by WordPress), Apache or Nginx (not explicitly detected)
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
60/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (implied by canonical URL https://www.thebic.co.uk)
  • Cookie consent banner present

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

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 challenge
  2. Content is focused on business support for Staffordshire companies
  3. No privacy or terms of service pages found
  4. Cookie consent banner is present and functional
  5. Contact info includes phone and email in header
  6. Multiple testimonials and partner logos enhance trust
  7. Uses WordPress with common plugins and modern frontend libraries
  8. No explicit security headers detected in HTML source
  9. No analytics or tracking scripts detected
  10. WHOIS data is missing or invalid for the domain queried
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress 5.9.3 with WPBakery Page Builder and several plugins including Modern Events Calendar Lite. It uses jQuery 3.6.0 and FontAwesome 5.15.3 for frontend functionality and icons. The site loads Google Fonts and Bootstrap 3.3.4 for styling and responsiveness. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization. SEO is supported by Rank Math plugin and proper meta tags including Open Graph and JSON-LD structured data. Accessibility features are basic but present. No advanced analytics or tracking technologies were detected, indicating a privacy-conscious setup or limited marketing automation. Hosting provider details are not discernible from the 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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with thebic.co.uk. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review thebic.co.uk.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.