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Security report for winemark.com

Winemark · Retail · United Kingdom

Medium risk. 6 critical or high findings in SSL/TLS, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

68/100

Risk levelMedium

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

Winemark is a leading independent wine merchant and off licence chain in Northern Ireland, operating 84 stores and employing over 500 staff. The company specializes in retailing premium wines, beers, and spirits, complemented by services such as wine tastings, glass hire, gifting, and wedding services. Their market position as the largest off licence chain in the region is supported by a strong physical presence and an informative website with store locator and promotional offers. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern plugins for SEO, analytics, and user engagement, demonstrating a moderate to good level of digital maturity. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced, age verification for legal compliance, and cookie consent mechanisms, though there is room for improvement in security headers and DNSSEC implementation. Overall, the site is professional, trustworthy, and compliant with GDPR, targeting adult consumers interested in alcoholic beverages.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
65/ 100 · Medium
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

6 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. 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

  3. 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 winemark.com

This scan found 22 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.

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Full report

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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
62
Security headers
15
Email security
85
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
65
Average
68

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

Winemark's business model focuses on retail sales through physical stores supported by an online presence for marketing and customer engagement. Their competitive advantage lies in their extensive store network and wine expertise. Revenue streams likely come from direct sales of alcoholic beverages and ancillary services. The target customer segment is adult consumers in Northern Ireland seeking quality wines and spirits. The company maintains active social media channels and a dedicated careers site, indicating growth and recruitment efforts. Strategic observations include the importance of maintaining compliance with alcohol sale regulations and leveraging digital tools for customer retention and promotions.

Security posture

The website demonstrates a baseline security maturity with HTTPS enforced and age verification popups to restrict underage access. Cookie consent and privacy policies indicate GDPR awareness. However, the absence of DNSSEC and security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options represents potential vulnerabilities. No incident response or security policy information is published, which could hinder rapid response to security events. The use of security plugins like Better WP Security is positive but should be complemented with regular audits and updates. Overall, the security posture is moderate but could be enhanced to reduce risk exposure.

Recommendations

  1. Enable DNSSEC on the domain to protect against DNS spoofing and improve domain security.
  2. Implement HTTP security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to mitigate common web attacks.
  3. Publish a clear security policy and incident response contact information to improve transparency and preparedness.
  4. Regularly update WordPress core and all plugins to the latest versions to minimize vulnerabilities.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct periodic security audits to maintain compliance and security posture.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Legal name
Winemark
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Winemark
Description
Winemark is a local off licence chain with 84 stores across Northern Ireland, specializing in premium world class wine, beer, and spirit brands. They offer wine expertise, store finder, and various services including wine tastings, glass hire, gifting, and weddings.
Key services
Retail of wine, beer, spirits, Wine tastings, Glass hire, Gifting, Weddings services
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Slider Revolution, jQuery, Essential Grid, Popup Maker, Contact Form 7, Custom Facebook Feed
Frameworks
WordPress
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
70/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced via script redirect
  • Age verification popup for 18+
  • Cookie consent mechanism
  • Use of security plugins (Better WP Security)

Analytics and tracking

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

Advertising

Marketing tools
Yoast SEO, Popup Maker
Transparency
basic

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a well-established retail chain for alcoholic beverages in Northern Ireland
  2. Good use of modern WordPress plugins and SEO tools
  3. Enforces age verification for legal compliance
  4. Cookie consent and privacy policy present and GDPR compliant
  5. No visible security headers in HTML but uses HTTPS and security plugins
  6. No terms of service page found
  7. No explicit security or incident response policies published
  8. No phone numbers explicitly labeled as company contact found in HTML content
  9. Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
  10. No suspicious or malicious domains linked
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS using a variety of plugins such as Yoast SEO for search optimization, Slider Revolution for interactive content, and Contact Form 7 for user inquiries. Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are used for traffic analysis and marketing. The site enforces HTTPS and redirects HTTP traffic accordingly. Performance is moderate with some reliance on external CDNs for fonts and scripts. Mobile optimization is good with responsive design elements. Accessibility is basic but could be improved. The technical stack is modern but would benefit from enhanced security configurations and performance tuning.
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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