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Security report for ukaop.org

Association of Online Publishers · Media · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers and GDPR outside view.

Security score

73/100

Risk levelMedium

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

The Association of Online Publishers (AOP) is a UK-based industry body established in 2002 that represents digital publishing companies across newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, and pure online media. It provides membership services, organizes events, conducts research, and offers resources to support the creation and distribution of high-quality original digital content. The organization targets digital publishers and media owners, positioning itself as a key advocate and community hub within the UK digital media sector. Technically, the website is built on Craft CMS with SEOmatic for SEO, hosted on a DigitalOcean IP, and uses modern JavaScript libraries such as Tiny Slider and Google Tag Manager. The site demonstrates good digital maturity with fast performance, mobile optimization, and basic accessibility. Security-wise, the site employs several HTTP security headers, secure cookies, and CSRF protection, but critically lacks enabled TLS protocols and DNSSEC, which are significant security gaps. Privacy and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, with consent mechanisms in place. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and well-branded but requires urgent improvements in SSL/TLS configuration to enhance security posture.

Scanned

This is an earlier scan of ukaop.org. View the latest report

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 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

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 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

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

Keep watching ukaop.org

This scan found 16 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
80
Security headers
55
Email security
85
DNS health
85
Network security
90
GDPR outside view
43
Average
73

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 ukaop.org, from OffSeq Breach.

Total records
1
Employees
0
Customers
1
Third parties
0
Weak passwords
0%

1 subdomain 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 ukaop.org.

Select it in the checkout above.

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

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

AOP operates as an essential UK industry association in the media sector, focusing on digital publishing companies. Its business model revolves around membership fees, events, research reports, and resource provision. The organization has a strong market position as a long-established body since 2002, serving a medium-sized audience of publishers and media owners. Its competitive advantage lies in its comprehensive industry coverage, including newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, and online media, and its advocacy for quality original content. The partnership ecosystem includes prominent media brands and digital publishers, as evidenced by member logos and event collaborations. Growth indicators include active event calendars, research publications, and digital newsletters. The organization leverages digital marketing and analytics tools to engage its audience and optimize outreach.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a moderate security maturity level with implementation of key HTTP security headers such as X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection, and X-Content-Type-Options, along with secure and HttpOnly cookies and CSRF tokens. However, the absence of enabled TLS protocols (TLS 1.2 or higher) is a critical vulnerability that exposes data in transit to interception risks. The lack of DNSSEC and CAA records further weakens domain security. No explicit security policy or incident response information is published, indicating potential gaps in transparency and readiness. Privacy policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant, and reCAPTCHA v3 is used to mitigate form abuse. Overall, while some best practices are observed, significant improvements are needed to meet modern security standards and compliance requirements.

Recommendations

  1. Enable TLS 1.2 or higher protocols immediately to secure data in transit.
  2. Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with includeSubDomains and preload directives.
  3. Configure DNSSEC and CAA DNS records to enhance domain security and certificate issuance control.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response plan accessible on the website.
  5. Establish a security.txt file to facilitate vulnerability disclosure and improve transparency.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on a modern CMS platform (Craft CMS) with SEOmatic for SEO optimization, hosted on a DigitalOcean server. It uses JavaScript libraries such as Tiny Slider for UI components and integrates Google Tag Manager and LinkedIn Insight Tag for analytics and marketing. Performance is fast with good mobile optimization, though accessibility is basic. The site uses secure cookie attributes and CSRF tokens for form security. However, the lack of enabled TLS protocols is a major technical risk. DNS configuration lacks DNSSEC and CAA records, which are recommended for enhanced security. The technical stack is modern but requires urgent security upgrades to avoid operational and reputational risks.
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. 60/100Medium31 findingsView report
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