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https://britishcouncil.org

Infrastructure

· 9 checks — DNS, redirects, IPv6, crawlability, URL variants, and domain intelligence rolled into one auditable list.
SCORE
88
GRADE
B
FIX
0
REVIEW
4
PASS
5
INFO
0
Probed from Sao Paulo, Brazil
301 Moved Permanently
Checks
9
5 PASS 4 REVIEW
C
IPv6 Readiness
Action
No IPv6 support
REVIEW
No IPv6 support
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records found
IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.
No IPv6 Support
About 40% of internet users have IPv6. Consider adding AAAA records.

IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity.

Why this matters

No AAAA records — same impact as 'no IPv6 (AAAA) records'; IPv6-preferring clients pay extra latency falling back to IPv4.

Source: Google IPv6 stats

B
Crawlability
no robots.txt, no sitemap
REVIEW
no robots.txt, no sitemap
Info::
No robots.txt found
robots.txt is optional but recommended. It tells search engine crawlers which pages to index.
Info::
No sitemap.xml found
A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.

robots.txt is optional but recommended. It tells search engine crawlers which pages to index.

Why this matters

No robots.txt — crawlers fetch /robots.txt and get 404; not breaking but means default crawl behavior with no directives or sitemap reference.

Learn more

A minimal robots.txt with `User-agent: * / Allow: / / Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml` covers the basics. Without it, crawlers behave fine but lose the sitemap signal and can't be selectively blocked from crawl-traps.

Source: robotstxt.org

A sitemap helps search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently.

Why this matters

No sitemap.xml — Google relies on crawl-graph discovery alone, slowing indexing of deep or fresh URLs.

Learn more

A sitemap accelerates Google's discovery of new and updated content. Most CMSes auto-generate one; static-site frameworks need a build-step plugin. Reference it from robots.txt and submit in Search Console to confirm Google can fetch it.

Source: sitemaps.org / Google Search Central

robots.txt No robots.txt found

No robots.txt found

This is fine for most sites — a missing robots.txt allows all crawling by default.

sitemap.xml No sitemap found

No sitemap found

Adding a sitemap helps search engines discover your pages.

B
TLS Certificate Expiry & Recommendations
179 days until leaf cert expires — 2 issues to address
REVIEW

Certificate validity

179
days left
0d 30d 60d 90d+

Recommended actions

  • Enable HSTS: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains
  • Enable OCSP stapling on your TLS server to remove a CA roundtrip and protect user privacy
B
CDN & Delivery
Akamai
REVIEW
Akamai
Info::
Site is served via Akamai CDN
Got: server header
CDN Detected: Akamai
Provider Akamai Evidence server header
A+
DNS Records
1 A records, 12 ms lookup
PASS
1 A records, 12 ms lookup
Info::
Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es)
Got: 23.201.216.62
Info::
Single A record — no DNS redundancy
Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.
Info::
No IPv6 (AAAA) records
Info::
2 nameserver(s) configured
Got: udns1.cscdns.net, udns2.cscdns.uk
Info::
1 mail exchanger(s) configured
Info::
CAA records not checked
CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.
Info::
SPF record present in TXT
Info::
DNS resolution time: 12 ms
Got: 12 ms
A23.201.216.62
AAAA
CNAME
NSudns1.cscdns.net, udns2.cscdns.uk
MX
10 britishcouncil-org.mail.protection.outlook.com
TXT
MS=ms20905763
MS=ms98019366
_3dgitb7hvp8gknr4noa9wyheskod5aw
_kgn1lny7eb2wj3c5cuvyeurfbfxru43
mandrill_verify.zNeiG-fMxD_LFaWXIeGcnQ
12B9-B7AC-317F-AED7-FAD9-0A42-E45F-D313
MS=8224EDAEE029157FC7A12ED206027FC27E59B2E1
docusign=41d69863-069f-4e07-9119-44dbf92b16f9
docusign=9fcfefe4-8429-4547-9d60-3db6745bf374
canva-site-verification=NdTKN00yKWa7prcGdMomOA
amazonses:2OVofWfsKIZZF/83yrjW6275PmjifFAdrkNmWj9bgYk=
amazonses:MMLbONb+7wkBjpWs0yPcSfPEG1LZO0AZ1D8dX1TDENc=
openai-domain-verification=dv-k607bRjylO8j3KuR5f2WOSfL
facebook-domain-verification=3mxrzjuz6kenhn2myv0ys6494p0xt0
facebook-domain-verification=71tbmms7av1qecz81zzaelm6fx9opy
facebook-domain-verification=qp3a35ck90ejfz2jsvydt74ovbcmlk
facebook-domain-verification=rpq0q2rzi1c8lgp481kr238mt9qxmr
have-i-been-pwned-verification=58272196a0695f839fe50a753a12ad31
google-site-verification=2gaaYLJS1Yg09dGBEJbIXolkPDKZMLDshodUb_ZMK4A
google-site-verification=FSlDMa_hbGOCNH-O9dRM3zsudwyUuFDAVqUiOoWeLBc
google-site-verification=LIiYwDJxV02_6nQXvCmtpWhUq1BDqLCcEeRFRe72nEE
google-site-verification=UgDP8kByjx7CcNfnmDAaWJFq7QdAO0q_4NGdVW9WkYs
google-site-verification=_u_fwHAdWJbzxQb-ezGy-dUesA564Gppsvip4G8a7A8
_globalsign-domain-verification=-awtonA3izZim7M9dNMwrH07WjvKC5se353wYCAliP
_globalsign-domain-verification=Iiihy-iv_vLdlIMtHvh-aCdqO2T53oCoknhW44njXn
_globalsign-domain-verification=lQgTOD8dWU_8nHyzjHGJ39ncrI45HenuNvKKTckDhn
pardot734493=67935687422f2454fe052217ac76ab63ab59fc40e4134c2fa9b5a3268c472be9
pardot734493=e69544bcacfb96122123974d3e7e180dcc7a2c5a4cd9cb82b00af0a06dfa68c1
atlassian-domain-verification=33ikTgnfsuT67cLnfuaf17SCEpiEB8P1hGm74dZxq5KcGh/L67...
atlassian-domain-verification=oIwQZaz/MRtMsmoTYe5W6WLa1J3fT6UJkyvv2JrBnFsQ/wyfiN...
successfactors-site-verification=YWVhMjBjOWFiNmVkNmE2YTYyMTE4YTAyOTJhODNlNDA4MDk...
SPF v=spf1 a ip4:146.88.16.128 ip4:146.88.16.129 ip4:146.88.16.130 ip4:146.88.16.131...
CAALookup not available with standard resolver
Resolved in 12 ms

Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down.

Why this matters

Single A record means a single point of failure — if that IP goes down, your site is unreachable until DNS TTL expires.

Learn more

Add multiple A records for round-robin failover, or use a managed DNS provider with health-checked failover (Route 53, Cloudflare, NS1). Short TTL (60-300s) lets clients recover faster on outages.

Source: SRE practice / DNS architecture

CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update.

Why this matters

Informational: CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) records weren't checked in this scan.

A+
Redirect Chain
0 redirect(s), 12 ms total
PASS
0 redirect(s), 12 ms total

https://britishcouncil.org

12 ms · HTTP/1.1 FINAL

#URLStatusTimeProtocolServer
1https://britishcouncil.org30112 msHTTP/1.1AkamaiGHost
A+
URL Variants
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
PASS
www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS
Info::
HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS

www / non-www

403https://www.britishcouncil.org/
200https://britishcouncil.org/

HTTP → HTTPS

301http://britishcouncil.org/ https://www.britishcouncil.org/

Consistent

A+
Domain Intelligence
britishcouncil.org — via CSC Corporate Domains, Inc., 27 years, 9 months old, hosted on Akamai
PASS
britishcouncil.org — via CSC Corporate Domains, Inc., 27 years, 9 months old, hosted on Akamai
Info::
Domain registered until Dec 10, 2026 (7 months remaining)
Info::
DNSSEC is enabled
Info::
Registrar: CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.
Warning::
Registrar lock is NOT enabled
The domain can be transferred without an unlock step. Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) in your registrar's control panel to protect against unauthorized or accidental transfers.
Info::
Hosting: Akamai
Got: AS16625
Domain expiry

115 days

December 10, 2026

SSL certificate

179 days

Issued by DigiCert Inc

Domain age

27 years, 9 months

Registered December 11, 1998

DNSSEC

Enabled

Protects against DNS spoofing

Hosting

Akamai

ASN AS16625

23.201.216.62

Registrar

CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.

Unlocked 2 NS records
Expiry timeline
Today
+1 year
Domain expiry SSL expiry Danger zone (≤30 days)
Recommended actions
  • Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) to block unauthorized domain transfers
Registrar CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.
Created December 11, 1998 (27 years, 9 months ago)
Expires December 10, 2026 (7 months)
Last Updated December 11, 2025
Name Servers udns1.cscdns.net, udns2.cscdns.uk
DNSSEC Enabled
Hosting
IP Address 23.201.216.62
ASN AS16625 (AKAMAI-AS - Akamai Technologies, Inc., US)
Provider Akamai
Data source: rdap (1.7s)

The domain can be transferred without an unlock step. Enable registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited) in your registrar's control panel to protect against unauthorized or accidental transfers.

Why this matters

Without registrar lock, an attacker who phishes your registrar credentials can transfer the domain in minutes — total brand hijack.

Learn more

Registrar lock (clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited, clientDeleteProhibited) requires extra verification before any transfer/update/delete. Every major registrar offers it free. Combined with 2FA on your registrar account, it's the strongest defense against domain hijacking.

Source: ICANN / domain-security best practice

A+
HTTP Probe Timing
Total 14 ms — DNS, TCP, TLS, TTFB, content transfer breakdown
PASS
DNS Lookup DNS Lookup — time to resolve the domain name to an IP address.
5 ms
TCP Connect TCP Connect — time to establish a TCP connection to the server.
1 ms
TLS Handshake TLS Handshake — time to complete the HTTPS encryption handshake.
5 ms
Time to First Byte Time to First Byte — how long the server takes to respond with the first byte of data.
14 ms
Total Time Total request time from DNS lookup through full response.
14 ms

Connection waterfall

DNS Lookup 5 ms TCP Connect 1 ms TLS Handshake 5 ms Server Processing 3 ms Content Transfer 0 ms
All checks on this page are automated. Results are estimates - run targeted manual reviews when the score affects a release decision.

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