Security News > 2021 > October > The dangers behind wildcard certificates: What enterprises need to know

With the National Security Agency recently issuing guidance on the risks associated with wildcard TLS certificates and Application Layer Protocols Allowing Cross-Protocol Attacks techniques, it has many organizations and enterprise leaders wondering: What are the odds of a wildcard certificate being compromised and/or leading to serious consequences, and how can this prevented?

Before IT leaders can truly respond to and mitigate wildcard certificate security risks - and manage wildcard certificates - it's essential to first understand what wildcard certificates are and why it's a common, flexible and helpful, but risky certificate.

Any usage of wildcard certificates might appear to be suitable for smaller organizations or limited number of exposed domains.

If a wildcard certificate's private key falls in the wrong hands, attackers can impersonate any domain covered by the wildcard certificate.

If an organization uses wildcard certificates, it's important to secure all deployments that use wildcard certificates by automating deployment and securing key management.

A holistic discovery solution that includes full featured certificate lifecycle management as well as workflow automation will help provide visibility into all the certificates used in the origination, and maintain inventory of the certificates for crypto security standards and expiry dates to prevent security breaches and application outages.

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