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Certificate Discovery:

You can't protect certificates you don't know exist—scanning reveals your complete certificate attack surface 

Learn about secure Certificate Discovery from the Ant

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The ant's systematic approach

 

African ants leave no stone unturned. They systematically map every inch of territory, sharing discoveries instantly with the colony through pheromone trails. Scout ants work tirelessly 24/7, exploring, documenting, reporting. Their collective intelligence creates a complete, always-current map of their environment. 

The question nobody can answer

Here's a simple exercise: Ask your IT director, "How many SSL/TLS certificates does our organization have?"

You'll likely hear: "About 5,000" or "Maybe 3,000?" or "Let me check the spreadsheet..."

Now run an automated certificate discovery scan. The real number? Usually 3x higher than anyone estimated.

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Your hidden certificate problem 

 

Unknown certificates create catastrophic risks. 

Remember these disasters?

Microsoft Teams (2020): Expired certificate, millions unable to work for hours

Spotify (2020): Global service down due to certificate expiration

Equifax (2017): Expired cert on security scanner enabled 147M record breach

None of these were sophisticated attacks. All were preventable certificate management failures from certificates nobody knew about, didn't monitor, didn't renew.

Where certificate hide

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Shadow IT
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Developers created certificates for testing, never documented
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Legacy systems
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Forgotten infrastructure still running with ancient certificates
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Acquisitions
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Merged companies brought entire certificate estates
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Test in production
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Test certificates accidentally deployed to live systems
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Personal certificates
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Individual developer certificates scattered everywhere
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Containers
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Kubernetes and Docker with their own certificate ecosystems
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How Certificate Discovery works

Phase 1: Comprehensive scanning

 

Automated scanners continuously sweep infrastructure:

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External Discovery
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  • Internet-facing websites and APIs

  • CDN and edge locations

  • Partner connections

  • Mobile app backends

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Internal discovery
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  • Data centre networks 
  • Private clouds
  • Development and test environments
  • Legacy infrastructure
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Cloud platform discovery
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  • AWS Certificate Manager Services
  • Azure Key Vault and App Services
  • Google Cloud Certificate Authority
  • Multi-cloud load balancers
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Container discovery
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  • Kubernetes ingress controllers
  • Docker container certificates
  • Service mesh certificates
  • Microservices authentication

Result: Organizations typically discover certificates in locations they never thought to look.
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Phase 2: Intelligent inventory

 

Every discovered certificate catalogued with complete metadata:

 

  • Subject and Subject Alternative Names (SANs)

  • Issuing Certificate Authority

  • Expiration date and remaining validity

  • Cryptographic algorithm (RSA, ECC) and key length

  • Serial number and thumbprint

  • Certificate chain and trust validation

  • Location and associated systems

Result: A living database that updates constantly.

Phase 3: Risk assessment

 

Automated analysis prioritizes remediation:

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Critical risk certificates:
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  • Expiring within 30 days
  • Using weak SHA-1 or MD5 algorithms
  • Self-signed or issued by untrusted CAs
  • Expired but still in use
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High Risk Certificates:
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  • Expiring within 60 days
  • Using short key lengths (< 2048 bits)
  • Missing from organizational policies
  • Deployed without approval
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Medium risk certificates:
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  • Expiring within 90 days
  • Using deprecated TLS versions
  • Ownership unclear

Result: Focus on what matters most.

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Phase 4: Continuous monitoring 

 
Discovery never stops. 
 
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  • Daily - weekly - monthly scans (configurable)
  • Real-time alerts for new certificates
  • Change detection and notifications
  • Integration with Certificate Lifecycle Management
  • Automated reporting and dashboards
Result: Always-current inventory replaces stale spreadsheets.

Benefits and differentiators

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Find every certificate
3x discovery rate vs. manual tracking
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Prevent costly outages
Discover before expiration surprises
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Eliminate shadow IT
Uncover unauthorized deployments
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Future-proof security
Migration paths to quantum-resistant algorithms
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Achieve compliance
Complete inventory for auditors
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Continuous scanning
Always-current, never outdated

 

The Altron Security advantage

Get in toch icon Managed PKI service - we handle infrastructure, you get results
Get in toch icon 24/7 South African support in your time zone
Get in toch icon Hybrid deployment - cloud, on-premise, or both
Get in toch icon Compliance-ready - pre-configured for POPIA, PCI DSS
Get in toch icon Quantum-ready - migration paths to post-quantum cryptography

 

Ready to explore our Certificate Discovery solutions? 

 

Download Identity Security Field Guide

 

Speak to an Altron Security expert&nbsp;

 

Schedule Digital Identity&nbsp;Assessment

We make it simple with tools that help you  digitise, automate, and manage your business information smarter and faster.
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