Comparing PKI Spotlight vs. CLM and Security Tools for PKI Monitoring and Management

Update Feb 21, 2025: This blog post has been updated to include Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools such as Venafi, KeyFactor, and AppViewX, as well as Rapid7 in the comparison. The expanded coverage provides a more comprehensive look at how different solutions interact with PKI and their monitoring capabilities.

Introduction

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the backbone of secure communication, authentication, and encryption across enterprises. As organizations increasingly rely on PKI to secure their digital assets, ensuring continuous monitoring, detecting misconfigurations, and responding to vulnerabilities are critical. This blog provides an comparison of PKI Spotlight against various CLM and security tools, focusing on their PKI-related monitoring capabilities, security integrations, and distinct functionalities.

Software Summaries and PKI Interaction

PKI Posture Management Tools

These tools are designed for real-time PKI monitoring, health assessment, misconfiguration detection, and risk analysis. 

PKI Spotlight

Problem Space: PKI Spotlight is a dedicated PKI monitoring and observability solution designed to provide real-time insights into the health, security, and configuration of an organization’s PKI infrastructure.

PKI Interaction: PKI Spotlight offers deep monitoring capabilities, tracking certificate issuance, revocation, and expiration for PKI objects, including monitoring CRL expiration and endpoint accessibility status. It provides real-time event monitoring and integrates with SIEM solutions for security analytics. It excels in misconfiguration detection, vulnerability assessment, and monitoring PKI service availability. PKI Spotlight is not a Certificate Lifecycle Management tool and limits the monitoring of issued certificates to those the PKI uses.

Security Tools

These tools focus on broader cybersecurity functions, such as endpoint protection, threat detection, and vulnerability management, with some PKI-related security features.

Microsoft Defender

Problem Space: Microsoft Defender is a broad security solution aimed at endpoint protection, identity security, and advanced threat detection. While it includes some certificate-based authentication and identity security capabilities, it is not designed as a dedicated PKI monitoring solution. 

PKI Interaction: Microsoft Defender interacts with PKI primarily by protecting identity and detecting certificate-related threats in Active Directory. However, its capabilities are limited in terms of real-time PKI health monitoring, certificate lifecycle visibility, and misconfiguration detection.

Red Sift

Problem Space: Red Sift provides domain security, email security, and certificate monitoring solutions focused on external attack surface management. Its goal is to help organizations manage TLS/SSL certificates and prevent downtime or security risks due to mismanagement. 

PKI Interaction: Red Sift primarily focuses on external-facing certificates, monitoring their expiration, validity, and potential vulnerabilities. However, it lacks comprehensive visibility into internal PKI infrastructure, misconfigurations, and real-time PKI event monitoring.

Rapid7

Problem Space: Rapid7 is a cybersecurity analytics and vulnerability management platform that helps organizations identify and respond to security threats, including certificate-related risks.

PKI Interaction: Rapid7 focuses on security analytics, vulnerability scanning, and risk management. It provides visibility into certificate-based threats but does not offer comprehensive PKI observability, service availability monitoring, or deep certificate lifecycle management.

Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) Tools

These tools are focused on automating certificate issuance, renewal, and revocation across an organization’s infrastructure. 

Venafi

Problem Space: Venafi is an enterprise-grade machine identity management solution that automates certificate lifecycle management and protects cryptographic assets from misuse. 

PKI Interaction: Venafi offers strong certificate lifecycle management (CLM) features, automating issuance, renewal, and revocation. While it provides some monitoring for PKI-related risks, its primary focus is on policy enforcement and automation rather than deep PKI observability. 

KeyFactor

Problem Space: KeyFactor provides scalable certificate lifecycle management and PKI-as-a-service solutions designed for enterprises needing automation and security compliance. 

PKI Interaction: KeyFactor focuses on automating certificate management across hybrid and cloud environments. It integrates with PKI but lacks extensive real-time monitoring for PKI health, misconfigurations, and service availability. 

AppViewX

Problem Space: AppViewX delivers automation-driven certificate lifecycle management and network security solutions to enhance cryptographic security across enterprises. 

PKI Interaction: AppViewX provides strong automation capabilities for certificate lifecycle management but is limited in real-time PKI health monitoring, misconfiguration detection, and direct PKI service availability tracking. 

Conclusion

For organizations needing deep PKI monitoring, PKI Spotlight is the only solution that provides real-time insights, misconfiguration alerts, and vulnerability detection across the entire PKI ecosystem. Organizations that rely heavily on PKI should consider PKI Spotlight for full-stack PKI monitoring and risk mitigation, ensuring their cryptographic infrastructure remains secure, compliant, and resilient.