Skip to main content

Security report for watercommission.co.uk

The Water Industry Commission · Government · United Kingdom

Low risk. 2 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view and SSL/TLS.

Security score

79/100

Risk levelLow

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

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) is a small, essential government regulatory body responsible for overseeing the Scottish water industry. Their mission is to ensure high-quality water services and value for money for customers through economic regulation, performance monitoring, and market oversight. The website reflects a professional and authoritative presence with comprehensive information about their role, consultations, publications, and transparency commitments. Technically, the site is built on Drupal 11, uses modern web technologies, and implements a cookie consent mechanism aligned with GDPR requirements. Security posture is solid with HTTPS enforced and no visible vulnerabilities, though improvements could be made by enabling DNSSEC and publishing a security.txt file. Overall, the website is trustworthy, well-maintained, and serves its public sector regulatory function effectively.

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

2 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.

    • 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

  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

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

Keep watching watercommission.co.uk

This scan found 18 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
57
Security headers
70
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
80
Average
79

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 watercommission.co.uk, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for watercommission.co.uk right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

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

Business context

Business profile

WICS operates as a government non-departmental public body focused on economic regulation of the water sector in Scotland. Their business model centers on regulatory oversight rather than commercial activities. The organization targets Scottish water customers, business retailers, and stakeholders in the water industry. Their market position is that of an authoritative regulator with statutory responsibilities. The website content and structure support transparency and stakeholder engagement through consultations and publications. The organization maintains a clear brand identity and consistent messaging. Partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident, indicating a focused operational scope.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a mature security posture with HTTPS enforced and a cookie consent mechanism that respects user privacy. No security headers were detected in the HTML, suggesting room for enhancement in HTTP response headers. No incident response or abuse contact information is published, which is a gap in security transparency. The absence of a security.txt file or vulnerability disclosure policy limits external security engagement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were found. Overall, the security posture is good but could be improved with additional security headers, DNSSEC, and published incident response contacts.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to enhance DNS security and prevent spoofing.
  2. Publish a security.txt file at the root domain to facilitate vulnerability reporting.
  3. Add and enforce security HTTP headers such as Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, and X-Frame-Options.
  4. Provide clear incident response contact information, including security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Regularly audit third-party scripts and libraries to ensure no vulnerabilities are introduced.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
The Water Industry Commission
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Water Industry Commission
Description
We are a non-departmental public body with statutory responsibilities managing an effective regulatory framework to encourage the Scottish water industry to provide high-quality service and value for money to customers.
Key services
Economic regulation of Scottish Water, Monitoring Scottish Water's performance, Ensuring retail market promotes value and choice, Consultations and price setting, Transparency and information access
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
Drupal 11, jQuery, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Civic Cookie Control
Frameworks
Drupal
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
85/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Cookie consent banner with opt-in for analytics
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No visible vulnerable libraries

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional government regulatory body site with comprehensive content.
  2. Uses modern CMS (Drupal 11) and standard web technologies.
  3. Cookie consent mechanism is implemented with clear user options.
  4. No signs of malicious or suspicious content.
  5. Contact information is clearly provided with physical address and phone number.
  6. No visible security headers in HTML but HTTPS is enforced.
  7. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure page found.
  8. No incident response or abuse contact emails found.
  9. Social media presence limited to LinkedIn.
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on Drupal 11, a modern and supported CMS platform, indicating good technical infrastructure. It uses jQuery and integrates Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics for tracking and analytics. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and accessibility features. Performance is moderate, with no major issues detected. The site uses a reputable registrar (IONOS SE) and DNS servers from 1and1. The absence of DNSSEC is a minor technical gap. The cookie consent tool is provided by Civic Cookie Control, ensuring compliance with GDPR. Overall, the technical implementation is solid with opportunities for security and performance enhancements.
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 watercommission.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 watercommission.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.