2025-11-30
Certificate Discovery – a new approach to monitoring SSL/TLS certificates in your organization
The digital world is evolving faster than ever, and data security is one of the key challenges for every organization. With a multitude of servers, applications, and services, it’s increasingly difficult to know exactly where all your digital certificates are and when they expire. Certificate Discovery is a new feature available in the Data security products client panel – CertManager, designed to simplify certificate management.
Why is certificate management essential today?
Digital certificates are the invisible guardians of the Internet – they encrypt connections, authenticate servers, and build user trust. The challenge arises when a company uses dozens or even hundreds of certificates issued by various Certificate Authorities. It’s easy to miss a renewal deadline, causing a website or service to lose its secure status.
The consequences can be costly: sudden service outages, loss of website availability, and increased vulnerability to attacks. Certificate Discovery was created to prevent such situations – it helps identify and register certificates used across your organization’s infrastructure. It’s an excellent tool for IT certificate lifecycle management.
How does Certificate Discovery work?
Certificate Discovery operates on a simple yet highly effective principle. You provide a domain (e.g., example.com) or a server IP address, and the system establishes a secure connection to retrieve the certificate. It then analyzes the certificate’s contents – checking the expiration date, issuer, and domain name – and stores it in a centralized certificate list.
This gives you a complete, transparent list of all certificates used in your organization. The system enables SSL/TLS certificate monitoring, displays information about the upcoming expirations, and allows for quick transfer or renewal within Certum services.
What are the benefits of implementing Certificate Discovery?
- Comprehensive visibility and monitoring – instead of searching for certificates on servers and in applications, you have a single tool with all data visible in one place.
- Time savings and enhanced security – automated discovery and monitoring eliminate the risk of downtime and human error.
- Audit readiness and compliance – a centralized certificate list simplifies reporting and helps maintain compliance with security policies.
Technical background – simple principles, effective SSL/TLS certificate monitoring
Certificate Discovery uses TLS connections (typically on port 443) to retrieve certificates from publicly accessible servers. It does not scan entire networks or require agent installation – making it a secure and fast solution. At this stage, the system analyzes the server’s primary certificate, but it already provides a solid foundation for future enhancements, such as ACME integration or monitoring certificates in internal systems.
The future – automating certificate security
Certificate Discovery is the first step toward fully automated certificate lifecycle management in your organization’s infrastructure. It enables companies not only to know what certificates they have, but also to manage them proactively – before they expire and become a problem.
This solution translates into peace of mind, security, and predictability – priceless values in the digital world.
Summary: Certificate Discovery – an IT certificate management tool
The new Certificate Discovery feature in CertManager is not just an administrative tool for monitoring SSL/TLS certificates – it’s real support for building a security culture in your organization. It helps you regain control over certificates, streamlines daily operations, and ensures that none are overlooked.
Certificate Discovery can be accessed from your Certum store account: https://shop.certum.eu/customer/account/login