It means the domain is using an SSL/TLS certificate that was generated and signed by the same entity, without verification by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). Such certificates do not provide authenticity guarantees and are often used in malicious or internal infrastructures.
Three questions every analyst asks before acting on this signal.
It means the domain is using an SSL/TLS certificate that was generated and signed by the same entity, without verification by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). Such certificates do not provide authenticity guarantees and are often used in malicious or internal infrastructures.
Because it allows attackers to deploy encrypted communication channels without passing CA validation checks. This technique is often seen in phishing kits, botnet C2 servers, or fake login portals attempting to mimic legitimate HTTPS behavior.
Yes, in limited contexts such as internal testing, development servers, or private networks. However, on publicly reachable domains, the presence of a self-signed certificate is highly suspicious and should trigger further investigation.
A realistic shape of the entry the engine appends to the risk_signals array when this signal fires. Evidence keys are subgroup-default; per-signal overrides documented in the API reference.
{
"slug": "self_signed_ssl_certificate",
"name": "Self-Signed SSL Certificate Detected",
"group": "http_crawling_history",
"subgroup": "ssl_behavior",
"direction": "malicious",
"evidence": {
"cert_issued_days_ago": 9,
"issuer": "letsencrypt",
"valid_for_days": 90,
"rotation_count_90d": 3,
"cert_type": "DV"
}
}15 other signals share the same subgroup. They detect related behaviors and often co-fire on the same IOC.
It means that the SSL/TLS certificate presented by the domain failed critical validation checks. This can occur due to m…
It means the SSL/TLS certificate’s Common Name (CN) or Subject Alternative Name (SAN) does not match the accessed domain…
It means the SSL/TLS certificate of the domain includes verified organizational details that have been authenticated by …
It means that the SSL/TLS certificate presented by the domain was issued or signed by a Certificate Authority that is no…
The Verdict Gallery is a curated stream of real verdicts. Filter by this signal to see exactly which IOCs it caught, what other signals fired alongside it, and what the engine recommended.
100 IOCs/day on the free tier, LLM layer included. No card required.