Skip to main content

Security report for thecriticalfriend.co.uk

The Critical Friend · Other · United Kingdom

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in Network security, GDPR outside view and 2 other checks.

Security score

44/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Critical Friend is a small UK-based coaching and consultancy service focused on providing trusted critical friend support, coaching, and catalysis to individuals and organizations. The website presents a professional and consistent brand image with clear descriptions of services and a niche market position. The technical infrastructure is based on WordPress with the Divi theme and uses older JavaScript libraries, indicating moderate digital maturity. The site is accessible and functional but lacks advanced technical and security features. Security posture is basic with HTTPS enabled but no visible security headers and use of outdated libraries, which may expose the site to vulnerabilities. Privacy and cookie policies are absent, indicating compliance gaps with GDPR and related regulations. Overall, the website is moderately trustworthy but would benefit from improved security and privacy practices.

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. 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

    • High

      Third-party services without privacy policy

      Detected services: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google APIs

      What to do: Document all third-party data sharing in your privacy policy

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

Keep watching thecriticalfriend.co.uk

This scan found 27 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. The full timeline opens with your unlock code.

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
47
Security headers
20
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
35
Average
44

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 business operates in a niche coaching and consultancy sector, targeting clients seeking personal and professional development through critical friend services. The business model is service-based with a focus on coaching and idea development. The company has a modest online presence with social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The domain age and registration data align with the business founding year, supporting legitimacy. The website lacks detailed business contact information and formal policies, which may limit trust and growth potential. Partnerships with design and web development firms are noted but no direct business partners or subsidiaries are identified.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS but lacks important security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options, reducing protection against common web attacks. The use of an outdated jQuery version introduces potential vulnerabilities. No incident response or security policy information is provided, and no security contact channels are visible. The absence of privacy and cookie policies further weakens compliance posture. Overall, the security maturity is low to moderate, with significant room for improvement to protect user data and maintain trust.

Recommendations

  1. Update all JavaScript libraries, especially jQuery, to the latest secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Implement essential security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to enhance protection.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to improve GDPR compliance and user trust.
  4. Add clear contact information for security incidents and establish an incident response process.
  5. Conduct a full security audit of WordPress plugins and themes and apply necessary patches or replacements.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Critical Friend
Description
A service providing trusted critical friend support, coaching, and catalysis by listening, questioning, and helping develop thinking in a safe environment.
Key services
Critical friend coaching, Sounding board services, Catalyst for idea development
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.11.1, jQuery Migrate 1.2.1, WordPress, Divi Theme 2.3.1
Frameworks
Divi WordPress Theme
Platforms
WordPress
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
basic

Security

Observed score
50/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enabled

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
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is a small UK-based coaching and consultancy service.
  2. No privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found, indicating compliance gaps.
  3. Uses WordPress with Divi theme and outdated jQuery libraries.
  4. No visible security headers or advanced security measures detected.
  5. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
  6. No contact emails or phone numbers explicitly found in the HTML content.
  7. No forms with data collection fields detected except a search form.
  8. No analytics or tracking scripts detected.
  9. Website design is consistent and professional but basic in technical sophistication.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress using the Divi theme version 2.3.1, which is relatively old. The JavaScript stack includes jQuery 1.11.1 and jQuery Migrate 1.2.1, both outdated and potentially vulnerable. The site loads external fonts from Google Fonts and uses standard WordPress scripts. Performance appears moderate with no advanced optimization or analytics tools detected. Mobile optimization is basic with viewport meta tags and responsive CSS but no advanced accessibility features. SEO is basic with canonical links and RSS feeds but no structured data or Open Graph tags. The hosting provider is not explicitly identified but the registrar is 123-Reg Limited, a known UK registrar. Overall, the technical implementation is functional but dated and could benefit from 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

Reviews of this site

Share your experience with thecriticalfriend.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 thecriticalfriend.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.