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Security report for work-chicago.com

The Distillery Project · Media · United States

High risk. 10 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Email security and 2 other checks.

Security score

43/100

Risk levelHigh

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

The Distillery Project is an independent, award-winning creative and strategic agency based in Chicago, specializing in delivering clear, refined thinking and potent creativity to influence brand perception and consumer behavior. The website showcases their portfolio with multimedia content including videos hosted on Vimeo, and highlights their recognition as a Small Agency of The Year multiple times, indicating a strong market position within the creative media sector. The target audience primarily includes businesses seeking strategic branding and creative campaign services. Technically, the website is built using modern web technologies such as React and Next.js, with optimized multimedia integration and responsive design. However, there is no evidence of a common CMS, suggesting a custom or proprietary platform. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization, though accessibility features are basic. SEO practices appear adequate with proper meta tags and Open Graph data. From a security perspective, the site lacks visible security headers and published security policies, which lowers its security posture. There is no evidence of HTTPS enforcement or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms. Contact information is clearly presented, but privacy and cookie policies are absent, indicating compliance gaps with GDPR and other privacy regulations. Overall, the website is professional and credible but would benefit from enhanced security practices and privacy compliance to reduce risk and improve trustworthiness. Strategic recommendations include implementing security headers, publishing privacy and cookie policies, and establishing incident response and vulnerability disclosure protocols.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
10/ 100 · Critical
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

10 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. Email security

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC stop others sending email that looks like it comes from your domain, a common route to phishing and invoice fraud.

    • Critical

      No email authentication configured

      Domain is vulnerable to email spoofing

      What to do: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC immediately

  3. 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

  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 work-chicago.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.

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Full report

€39.90one-time

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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
0
Security headers
15
Email security
60
DNS health
75
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
10
Average
43

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 work-chicago.com, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for work-chicago.com 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

The Distillery Project operates as a small-sized creative agency focused on strategic and creative services within the media industry. Their multiple awards for Small Agency of The Year demonstrate competitive advantage and market recognition. The business model revolves around providing full-service agency solutions including branding, campaign development, and creative strategy. Revenue streams likely derive from client projects and retainers. The company targets businesses requiring high-impact creative services, leveraging a strong social media presence to enhance brand visibility. Partnerships with clients like Kohler and Caterpillar are highlighted, indicating a robust client ecosystem. Growth indicators include recent campaigns and multimedia content showcasing ongoing active projects.

Security posture

The website's security maturity is moderate to low due to the absence of key security headers and published security policies. No HTTPS enforcement details were found in the provided data, which is a critical security requirement. There is no visible vulnerability disclosure or incident response information, which limits the organization's readiness to handle security incidents. Data protection practices are unclear, and no GDPR compliance indicators are present. The lack of cookie consent mechanisms further highlights privacy compliance gaps. While no explicit vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected, the security posture would benefit from improvements in header implementation, HTTPS enforcement, and transparency regarding security policies.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and enforce HTTPS across the entire website to ensure secure communications.
  2. Add standard security headers such as Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection to mitigate common web vulnerabilities.
  3. Publish comprehensive privacy and cookie policies to comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations.
  4. Establish and publicize a vulnerability disclosure policy and incident response contact channels to improve security transparency and readiness.
  5. Enhance accessibility features and conduct regular security audits to maintain a strong security culture and trust.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
The Distillery Project
Description
An independent, full-service strategic and creative agency specializing in clear, sharply refined thinking and creativity to change perceptions and behaviors.
Key services
Strategic agency services, Creative agency services, Campaign development, Branding
Content quality
good
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
React, Next.js, Vimeo (video hosting), Custom fonts (woff2), SVG graphics
Frameworks
Next.js
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
50/100

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
poor

Advertising

Transparency
poor

Site quality

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

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional creative agency site with rich multimedia content
  2. No explicit privacy, cookie, or terms of service policies found
  3. Contact information is clearly presented in footer with emails and phone
  4. Social media presence is strong with multiple platforms linked
  5. No visible security policies or incident response information
  6. No WAF or blocking mechanisms detected
  7. Use of modern web technologies and video hosting via Vimeo
  8. No analytics or tracking scripts detected in provided content
  9. No forms detected for direct user input or data collection
Technical notes

Notes

The website leverages a modern technology stack including React and Next.js, enabling server-side rendering and optimized performance. Multimedia content is integrated via Vimeo, providing reliable video hosting. Custom fonts and SVG graphics contribute to a polished visual design. The site is mobile responsive with good navigation clarity. However, no common CMS was detected, suggesting a custom-built solution which may require dedicated maintenance. Performance is moderate, with potential for optimization in loading times and accessibility compliance. The absence of analytics or tracking scripts indicates minimal user tracking, aligning with privacy-conscious design but limiting marketing insights.
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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