Agentless CLM: Secure by Design

When it comes to monitoring SSL certificates across an organization, security tooling should never create more problems than it solves. That’s why agentless Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) is not just a convenience—it’s a security advantage.

No Agents, No Entry Points

Installing an agent means granting software ongoing access to internal systems. Even if the agent is designed with limited permissions, it still runs inside your environment and that makes it a potential attack surface. The SolarWinds breach is a prime example: attackers compromised the software update mechanism of Orion, a monitoring platform, and pushed malicious code to customers via its trusted agent. This allowed lateral movement inside critical infrastructure across governments and enterprises.

With an agentless solution like SSLBoard, there’s no such entry point. We monitor SSL certificates externally using Certificate Transparency logs and passive techniques.

There is:

• No agent running on your servers
• No port scanning
• No privileged access
• No suspicious behavior that needs to be white-listed

This also means there’s no need to punch holes in firewalls, no ongoing patching of internal monitoring software, and no new code running inside your network that could be co-opted by attackers.

Smaller Attack Surface, Same Visibility

SSL certificates are public by design. They’re issued by public Certificate Authorities and logged in auditable CT logs. This makes them ideal for external monitoring. SSLBoard leverages this visibility without introducing new infrastructure or trust assumptions inside your network.

That’s what makes agentless CLM not only simpler but more secure.

Illustration by ChatGPT