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Security report for thestage.co.uk

The Stage · Media · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 3 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, Security headers and 1 other check.

Security score

75/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Stage is a well-established UK-based media publication specializing in theatre news, reviews, interviews, and job listings. It serves theatre professionals and enthusiasts with a comprehensive range of content and services including subscription options and event information. The website demonstrates a mature digital presence with a professional design and consistent branding, leveraging modern web technologies and CDN hosting for performance. Security posture is moderate with HTTPS usage and CSRF tokens, but lacks visible security headers and explicit privacy policies. The WHOIS lookup failed due to querying the 'www' subdomain instead of the registered domain, but the website content and structure strongly indicate legitimacy and a trusted brand in the UK theatre media sector. Overall, the site is safe, professional, and well-positioned in its niche.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
80/ 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

3 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. GDPR outside view

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

    • 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

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

Keep watching thestage.co.uk

This scan found 19 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

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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
52
Security headers
70
Email security
80
DNS health
70
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
75

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 Stage holds a strong market position as the UK's longest-running theatre publication, targeting theatre professionals and audiences interested in UK and international theatre. Its business model includes subscription revenue, advertising, and job listing services. The site integrates partner domains for ticket sales and archival access, enhancing its ecosystem. The content quality and user engagement features suggest a medium-sized enterprise with a focus on content depth and industry relevance. The lack of explicit company registration or VAT information is typical for media sites but could be improved for transparency.

Security posture

The website employs HTTPS and includes CSRF tokens in forms, indicating basic security hygiene. However, the absence of visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and others reduces its security score. No vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected in the analyzed content. The login and subscription forms appear standard and secure. The site should enhance its security posture by implementing recommended HTTP security headers and ensuring all third-party scripts are regularly audited.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of service to improve privacy compliance and user trust.
  2. Implement and verify HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection.
  3. Enhance accessibility features to improve compliance and user experience for all users.
  4. Provide clear and verified company contact information including phone numbers and physical addresses if applicable.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and advertising integrations to mitigate potential security risks.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Stage
Description
Get the latest UK theatre news, reviews, interviews, and industry insights. Only from world’s longest-running publication for theatre professionals – The Stage.
Key services
Theatre news, Reviews, Interviews, Job listings, Events, Training and advice, Subscription services
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery UI, OWL Carousel, FontAwesome, Cloudfront CDN
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS usage (implied by canonical URLs)
  • CSRF token present in page data attributes
  • Secure login form with password field and show/hide toggle

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Tracking pixels
ebxcdn.com (likely ad tracking)
Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
good
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
good
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional UK theatre news and reviews publication
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and updated with latest news and reviews
  3. Multiple interactive features including login, subscription, job listings, and newsletter signup
  4. No signs of malicious content or security blocking
  5. WHOIS lookup failure due to querying subdomain rather than registered domain
  6. Use of CDN and modern JS libraries for performance and UI
  7. Cookie policy with consent mechanism present
  8. No explicit privacy policy or terms of service found in provided content
  9. No direct contact emails or phone numbers explicitly shown in visible content
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a modern tech stack including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript with jQuery UI and OWL Carousel for UI components, and FontAwesome for icons. It is hosted behind Amazon Cloudfront CDN, which aids in performance and availability. The CMS appears to be Affino, a specialized platform for media and publishing. The site is mobile optimized with responsive design and includes SEO best practices such as meta tags and Open Graph data. Performance is moderate, with room for improvement in accessibility and security headers. The site architecture supports rich content delivery and interactive features like login, search, and job listings.
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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