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Security report for vaos.com

Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) Ltd · Energy · Malta

High risk. 9 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, SSL/TLS and 2 other checks.

Security score

33/100

Risk levelHigh

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

Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) Ltd is a medium-sized company specializing in bespoke engineering and maintenance services for the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. With a multicultural workforce and multiple international offices, VAOS positions itself as a dynamic and innovative service provider delivering quality projects on time and budget. The website reflects a professional business with clear service offerings and contact information, targeting clients in the energy sector primarily in Malta and surrounding regions. Technically, the website employs a traditional tech stack including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Google Analytics, but uses outdated JavaScript libraries which may pose security risks. The site is moderately optimized for performance and mobile devices, with basic accessibility and SEO features. The presence of a cookie consent banner and privacy policy indicates some attention to privacy compliance, though GDPR compliance is not fully evident. From a security perspective, the site uses HTTPS and has a cookie consent mechanism, but lacks visible security headers and uses outdated libraries, which lowers its security posture. No explicit security policies or incident response contacts are provided. The WHOIS data aligns well with the website content, supporting legitimacy. Overall, the site scores as a good website with room for improvement in security and privacy compliance. Strategic recommendations include upgrading JavaScript libraries, implementing security headers, enhancing privacy compliance documentation, and establishing a formal security policy and incident response process to strengthen trust and reduce risk.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
28/ 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. GDPR outside view

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

    • Critical

      No HTTPS encryption

      GDPR requires appropriate security measures for personal data

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS

  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.

    • Critical

      No HTTPS Encryption

      Website does not use HTTPS encryption, making all data transmission vulnerable to interception

      What to do: Implement SSL/TLS certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS

  3. Network security

    Services reachable from the internet are the first thing attackers probe. Anything open that does not need to be should be closed.

    • Critical

      Critical Service Exposed: MySQL

      Port 3306 (MySQL) is publicly accessible - MySQL - Database server

      What to do: Immediately restrict access to MySQL using firewall or VPN

      • 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

  4. 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 vaos.com

This scan found 23 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
0
Security headers
20
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
0
GDPR outside view
28
Average
33

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 · found on this site
  • 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

VAOS operates in the energy sector providing specialized oilfield services including steelwork construction, equipment installation, and environmental services. Its business model focuses on delivering tailored engineering solutions with a strong emphasis on client collaboration and trust. The company targets clients in the gas, oil, and petrochemical industries, leveraging a multicultural workforce and international presence in Malta, Libya, and Austria. The website content and structure suggest a stable medium-sized enterprise with a professional approach but limited digital modernization. There is no evidence of parent or subsidiary companies. The company appears to maintain direct client relationships without extensive third-party partnerships visible on the website.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a basic security posture with HTTPS enabled and a cookie consent mechanism in place. However, the use of outdated JavaScript libraries such as jQuery 1.9.1 and the absence of critical security headers like Content-Security-Policy and Strict-Transport-Security reduce its security maturity. No explicit security policies, incident response contacts, or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are present, indicating gaps in compliance and readiness. The lack of visible security headers and outdated libraries could expose the site to common web vulnerabilities. Overall, the security posture is moderate but requires improvements to meet best practices and regulatory expectations.

Recommendations

  1. Upgrade all JavaScript libraries and dependencies to their latest secure versions to mitigate known vulnerabilities.
  2. Implement comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and Strict-Transport-Security.
  3. Develop and publish a formal security policy and incident response plan with clear contact channels for security issues.
  4. Enhance privacy compliance by expanding the privacy policy to explicitly address GDPR requirements and data retention policies.
  5. Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate vulnerabilities proactively.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) Ltd
Description
Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) Ltd provides engineering solutions backed by professionalism in steelwork construction, equipment installation, electrical supply, instrumentation, pipework, insulation, corrosion protection and other oilfield services.
Key services
Steelwork construction, Equipment installation, Electrical supply, Instrumentation, Pipework, Insulation, Corrosion protection, General maintenance, Drilling services, Environmental services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
jQuery 1.9.1, jQuery Migrate 1.0.0, Bootstrap CSS and JS, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Maps API, Modernizr, jQuery Validate, jQuery Fancybox, jQuery Cookie
Frameworks
Bootstrap
Performance
moderate
Mobile
basic
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
65/100
Good practices seen
  • Use of HTTPS (implied by base href https://www.vaos.com/)
  • Cookie consent mechanism

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
basic

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

Design
good
User experience
good
Content relevance
good
Navigation
good
Professionalism
good
Trustworthiness
moderate

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges
  2. Clear cookie consent banner present with link to privacy policy
  3. No terms of service or explicit security policy pages found
  4. Contact information is prominently displayed with multiple office locations
  5. Use of several outdated JavaScript libraries may pose security risks
  6. No social media links detected in the HTML content
  7. No structured data (JSON-LD or Open Graph) found in the HTML
  8. No visible security headers in provided data
  9. Website uses HTTPS as indicated by base href
  10. No vulnerability disclosure or security.txt found
Technical notes

Notes

The website uses a classic web technology stack with Bootstrap for responsive design, jQuery for DOM manipulation, and Google Analytics for user tracking. While the site is functional and moderately optimized, the use of outdated jQuery versions and lack of modern JavaScript frameworks indicate technical debt. The site loads external resources from reputable domains such as Google Fonts and Google Maps API, but no CMS or modern platform is detected. Performance is moderate with basic mobile optimization and accessibility features. There is opportunity to modernize the tech stack, improve performance, and enhance security configurations to reduce operational 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

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