Certificate Transparency Log Status

What is Certificate Transparency Log Status?

Certificate Transparency (CT) Log Status indicates whether an SSL/TLS certificate has been properly submitted to and recorded in public Certificate Transparency logs. CT is a security mechanism that creates publicly auditable records of all issued certificates, helping detect misissued or malicious certificates that could be used for attacks against encrypted communications.

Certificate Transparency Framework

The CT system creates a comprehensive audit trail for certificate issuance:

• Public Logs: Distributed ledgers maintained by various organizations
• Signed Certificate Timestamps (SCTs): Proof of log submission
• Monitor Networks: Automated systems that watch for suspicious certificates
• Browser Requirements: Many browsers now require CT compliance

Compliance and Security Benefits

CT log status is increasingly important for certificate acceptance by modern browsers. Google Chrome, for example, requires Extended Validation (EV) certificates to have valid SCTs from approved logs. A positive CT log status helps domain owners detect unauthorized certificates issued for their domains and provides transparency into the global certificate ecosystem. Organizations should monitor CT logs for their domains to identify potential security threats and ensure their own certificates are properly logged. The status typically shows whether the certificate appears in major CT logs and includes timestamps of when the certificate was logged.