
Analyzing Certificate Transparency For Phishing
- 436 installs
- 27.3k repo stars
- Updated August 2, 2026
- mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills
Analyzing Certificate Transparency for Phishing is an agent skill that helps discover phishing domains by analyzing CT log certificate issuances.
About
Analyzing Certificate Transparency for Phishing is a security-oriented agent skill aimed at solo builders and small teams who operate a branded product on the public web and cannot afford a full threat-intel desk. Certificate Transparency logs publish every publicly trusted TLS certificate as it is issued; attackers routinely register typosquats and homoglyph domains minutes before a campaign. This skill is meant to guide an AI agent through querying and interpreting CT data to find certificates that mimic your product, login paths, or executive names—so you can block, warn users, or initiate takedowns early. Catalog detail here is inferred from the skill name and repo placement because the ingested readme fragment was license text only; treat operational commands as something to confirm in the full SKILL.md after install. Use when you are validating launch readiness, responding to user reports of fake login pages, or running periodic brand-protection sweeps.
- Focuses on Certificate Transparency feeds to surface lookalike and fraudulent domains
- Fits Anthropic cybersecurity skills bundle for agent-guided threat hunting
- Supports proactive detection before users report credential-harvesting sites
- Pairs with domain monitoring and takedown workflows for indie SaaS founders
- Apache 2.0 licensed collection item—verify local SKILL.md for exact query steps
Analyzing Certificate Transparency For Phishing by the numbers
- 436 all-time installs (skills.sh)
- +26 installs in the week ending Aug 4, 2026 (Skillselion tracking)
- Ranked #531 of 2,203 Security skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
- Security screen: MEDIUM risk (skills.sh audit)
- Data as of Aug 5, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
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| Installs | 436 |
|---|---|
| repo stars | ★ 27.3k |
| Security audit | 2 / 3 scanners passed |
| Last updated | August 2, 2026 |
| Repository | mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills ↗ |
What it does
Hunt newly issued TLS certificates that impersonate your brand or customers by querying Certificate Transparency data for phishing infrastructure.
Who is it for?
Best when you're shipping customer-facing SaaS and need lightweight brand-abuse detection without an enterprise SOC.
Skip if: Skip if you have no public brand or domain exposure, or those and already have managed CT monitoring and SOC playbooks.
When should I use this skill?
When monitoring brand impersonation, investigating reported phishing URLs, or adding CT-based domain discovery to your security checklist.
What you get
You obtain a prioritized list of suspicious certificates or hostnames to investigate, block, or escalate for takedown.
- Suspicious hostname or certificate candidate list
- Investigation notes for block or takedown
Files
Analyzing Certificate Transparency for Phishing
Overview
Certificate Transparency (CT) is an Internet security standard that creates a public, append-only log of all issued SSL/TLS certificates. Monitoring CT logs enables early detection of phishing domains that register certificates mimicking legitimate brands, unauthorized certificate issuance for owned domains, and certificate-based attack infrastructure. This skill covers querying CT logs via crt.sh, real-time monitoring with Certstream, building automated alerting for suspicious certificates, and integrating findings into threat intelligence workflows.
When to Use
- When investigating security incidents that require analyzing certificate transparency for phishing
- When building detection rules or threat hunting queries for this domain
- When SOC analysts need structured procedures for this analysis type
- When validating security monitoring coverage for related attack techniques
Prerequisites
- Python 3.9+ with
requests,certstream,tldextract,Levenshteinlibraries - Access to crt.sh (https://crt.sh/) for historical CT log queries
- Certstream (https://certstream.calidog.io/) for real-time monitoring
- List of organization domains and brand keywords to monitor
- Understanding of SSL/TLS certificate structure and issuance process
Key Concepts
Certificate Transparency Logs
CT logs are cryptographically assured, publicly auditable, append-only records of TLS certificate issuance. Major CAs (Let's Encrypt, DigiCert, Sectigo, Google Trust Services) submit all issued certificates to multiple CT logs. As of 2025, Chrome and Safari require CT for all publicly trusted certificates.
Phishing Detection via CT
Attackers register lookalike domains and obtain free certificates (often from Let's Encrypt) to make phishing sites appear legitimate with HTTPS. CT monitoring detects these early because the certificate appears in logs before the phishing campaign launches, providing a window for proactive blocking.
crt.sh Database
crt.sh is a free web interface and PostgreSQL database operated by Sectigo that indexes CT logs. It supports wildcard searches (%.example.com), direct SQL queries, and JSON API responses. It tracks certificate issuance, expiration, and revocation across all major CT logs.
Workflow
Step 1: Query crt.sh for Certificate History
import requests
import json
from datetime import datetime
import tldextract
class CTLogMonitor:
CRT_SH_URL = "https://crt.sh"
def __init__(self, monitored_domains, brand_keywords):
self.monitored_domains = monitored_domains
self.brand_keywords = [k.lower() for k in brand_keywords]
def query_crt_sh(self, domain, include_expired=False):
"""Query crt.sh for certificates matching a domain."""
params = {
"q": f"%.{domain}",
"output": "json",
}
if not include_expired:
params["exclude"] = "expired"
resp = requests.get(self.CRT_SH_URL, params=params, timeout=30)
if resp.status_code == 200:
certs = resp.json()
print(f"[+] crt.sh: {len(certs)} certificates for *.{domain}")
return certs
return []
def find_suspicious_certs(self, domain):
"""Find certificates that may be phishing attempts."""
certs = self.query_crt_sh(domain)
suspicious = []
for cert in certs:
common_name = cert.get("common_name", "").lower()
name_value = cert.get("name_value", "").lower()
issuer = cert.get("issuer_name", "")
not_before = cert.get("not_before", "")
not_after = cert.get("not_after", "")
# Check for exact domain matches (legitimate)
extracted = tldextract.extract(common_name)
cert_domain = f"{extracted.domain}.{extracted.suffix}"
if cert_domain == domain:
continue # Legitimate certificate
# Flag suspicious patterns
flags = []
if domain.replace(".", "") in common_name.replace(".", ""):
flags.append("contains target domain string")
if any(kw in common_name for kw in self.brand_keywords):
flags.append("contains brand keyword")
if "let's encrypt" in issuer.lower():
flags.append("free CA (Let's Encrypt)")
if flags:
suspicious.append({
"common_name": cert.get("common_name", ""),
"name_value": cert.get("name_value", ""),
"issuer": issuer,
"not_before": not_before,
"not_after": not_after,
"serial": cert.get("serial_number", ""),
"flags": flags,
"crt_sh_id": cert.get("id", ""),
"crt_sh_url": f"https://crt.sh/?id={cert.get('id', '')}",
})
print(f"[+] Found {len(suspicious)} suspicious certificates")
return suspicious
monitor = CTLogMonitor(
monitored_domains=["mycompany.com", "mycompany.org"],
brand_keywords=["mycompany", "mybrand", "myproduct"],
)
suspicious = monitor.find_suspicious_certs("mycompany.com")
for cert in suspicious[:5]:
print(f" [{cert['common_name']}] Flags: {cert['flags']}")Step 2: Real-Time Monitoring with Certstream
import certstream
import Levenshtein
import re
from datetime import datetime
class CertstreamMonitor:
def __init__(self, watched_domains, brand_keywords, similarity_threshold=0.8):
self.watched_domains = [d.lower() for d in watched_domains]
self.brand_keywords = [k.lower() for k in brand_keywords]
self.threshold = similarity_threshold
self.alerts = []
def start_monitoring(self, max_alerts=100):
"""Start real-time CT log monitoring."""
print("[*] Starting Certstream monitoring...")
print(f" Watching: {self.watched_domains}")
print(f" Keywords: {self.brand_keywords}")
def callback(message, context):
if message["message_type"] == "certificate_update":
data = message["data"]
leaf = data.get("leaf_cert", {})
all_domains = leaf.get("all_domains", [])
for domain in all_domains:
domain_lower = domain.lower().strip("*.")
if self._is_suspicious(domain_lower):
alert = {
"domain": domain,
"all_domains": all_domains,
"issuer": leaf.get("issuer", {}).get("O", ""),
"fingerprint": leaf.get("fingerprint", ""),
"not_before": leaf.get("not_before", ""),
"detected_at": datetime.now().isoformat(),
"reason": self._get_reason(domain_lower),
}
self.alerts.append(alert)
print(f" [ALERT] {domain} - {alert['reason']}")
if len(self.alerts) >= max_alerts:
raise KeyboardInterrupt
try:
certstream.listen_for_events(callback, url="wss://certstream.calidog.io/")
except KeyboardInterrupt:
print(f"\n[+] Monitoring stopped. {len(self.alerts)} alerts collected.")
return self.alerts
def _is_suspicious(self, domain):
"""Check if domain is suspicious relative to watched domains."""
for watched in self.watched_domains:
# Exact keyword match
watched_base = watched.split(".")[0]
if watched_base in domain and domain != watched:
return True
# Levenshtein distance (typosquatting detection)
domain_base = tldextract.extract(domain).domain
similarity = Levenshtein.ratio(watched_base, domain_base)
if similarity >= self.threshold and domain_base != watched_base:
return True
# Brand keyword match
for keyword in self.brand_keywords:
if keyword in domain:
return True
return False
def _get_reason(self, domain):
"""Determine why domain was flagged."""
reasons = []
for watched in self.watched_domains:
watched_base = watched.split(".")[0]
if watched_base in domain:
reasons.append(f"contains '{watched_base}'")
domain_base = tldextract.extract(domain).domain
similarity = Levenshtein.ratio(watched_base, domain_base)
if similarity >= self.threshold and domain_base != watched_base:
reasons.append(f"similar to '{watched}' ({similarity:.0%})")
for kw in self.brand_keywords:
if kw in domain:
reasons.append(f"brand keyword '{kw}'")
return "; ".join(reasons) if reasons else "unknown"
cs_monitor = CertstreamMonitor(
watched_domains=["mycompany.com"],
brand_keywords=["mycompany", "mybrand"],
similarity_threshold=0.75,
)
alerts = cs_monitor.start_monitoring(max_alerts=50)Step 3: Enumerate Subdomains from CT Logs
def enumerate_subdomains_ct(domain):
"""Discover all subdomains from Certificate Transparency logs."""
params = {"q": f"%.{domain}", "output": "json"}
resp = requests.get("https://crt.sh", params=params, timeout=30)
if resp.status_code != 200:
return []
certs = resp.json()
subdomains = set()
for cert in certs:
name_value = cert.get("name_value", "")
for name in name_value.split("\n"):
name = name.strip().lower()
if name.endswith(f".{domain}") or name == domain:
name = name.lstrip("*.")
subdomains.add(name)
sorted_subs = sorted(subdomains)
print(f"[+] CT subdomain enumeration for {domain}: {len(sorted_subs)} subdomains")
return sorted_subs
subdomains = enumerate_subdomains_ct("example.com")
for sub in subdomains[:20]:
print(f" {sub}")Step 4: Generate CT Intelligence Report
def generate_ct_report(suspicious_certs, certstream_alerts, domain):
report = f"""# Certificate Transparency Intelligence Report
## Target Domain: {domain}
## Generated: {datetime.now().isoformat()}
## Summary
- Suspicious certificates found: {len(suspicious_certs)}
- Real-time alerts triggered: {len(certstream_alerts)}
## Suspicious Certificates (crt.sh)
| Common Name | Issuer | Flags | crt.sh Link |
|------------|--------|-------|-------------|
"""
for cert in suspicious_certs[:20]:
flags = "; ".join(cert.get("flags", []))
report += (f"| {cert['common_name']} | {cert['issuer'][:30]} "
f"| {flags} | [View]({cert['crt_sh_url']}) |\n")
report += f"""
## Real-Time Certstream Alerts
| Domain | Issuer | Reason | Detected |
|--------|--------|--------|----------|
"""
for alert in certstream_alerts[:20]:
report += (f"| {alert['domain']} | {alert['issuer']} "
f"| {alert['reason']} | {alert['detected_at'][:19]} |\n")
report += """
## Recommendations
1. Add flagged domains to DNS sinkhole / web proxy blocklist
2. Submit takedown requests for confirmed phishing domains
3. Monitor CT logs continuously for new certificate registrations
4. Implement CAA DNS records to restrict certificate issuance for your domains
5. Deploy DMARC to prevent email spoofing from lookalike domains
"""
with open(f"ct_report_{domain.replace('.','_')}.md", "w") as f:
f.write(report)
print(f"[+] CT report saved")
return report
generate_ct_report(suspicious, alerts if 'alerts' in dir() else [], "mycompany.com")Validation Criteria
- crt.sh queries return certificate data for target domains
- Suspicious certificates identified based on lookalike patterns
- Certstream real-time monitoring detects new phishing certificates
- Subdomain enumeration produces comprehensive list from CT logs
- Alerts generated with reason classification
- CT intelligence report created with actionable recommendations
References
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API Reference: Certificate Transparency Phishing Detection
crt.sh API
Search Certificates
# JSON output
curl "https://crt.sh/?q=%.example.com&output=json"
# Exclude expired
curl "https://crt.sh/?q=%.example.com&output=json&exclude=expired"
# Exact match
curl "https://crt.sh/?q=example.com&output=json"Response Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
id | Certificate ID in crt.sh database |
common_name | Certificate CN |
name_value | All SANs (newline-separated) |
issuer_name | Certificate Authority |
not_before | Validity start |
not_after | Validity end |
serial_number | Certificate serial |
Certstream - Real-time CT Monitoring
Python Client
import certstream
def callback(message, context):
if message["message_type"] == "certificate_update":
data = message["data"]
domains = data["leaf_cert"]["all_domains"]
for domain in domains:
if "example" in domain:
print(f"[ALERT] {domain}")
certstream.listen_for_events(callback, url="wss://certstream.calidog.io/")Message Fields
| Field | Path |
|---|---|
| Domains | data.leaf_cert.all_domains |
| Issuer | data.leaf_cert.issuer.O |
| Subject | data.leaf_cert.subject.CN |
| Fingerprint | data.leaf_cert.fingerprint |
| Source | data.source.name |
CT Log Servers
| Log | Operator | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Argon | ct.googleapis.com/logs/argon2024 | |
| Xenon | ct.googleapis.com/logs/xenon2024 | |
| Nimbus | Cloudflare | ct.cloudflare.com/logs/nimbus2024 |
| Oak | Let's Encrypt | oak.ct.letsencrypt.org/2024h1 |
| Yeti | DigiCert | yeti2024.ct.digicert.com/log |
Phishing Detection Techniques
Homoglyph / IDN Attacks
| Original | Lookalike | Technique |
|---|---|---|
| example.com | examp1e.com | Character substitution (l→1) |
| google.com | gооgle.com | Cyrillic о (U+043E) |
| paypal.com | paypa1.com | l→1 substitution |
| microsoft.com | mіcrosoft.com | Cyrillic і (U+0456) |
dnstwist Integration
dnstwist -r -f json example.com # Generate and resolve permutations
dnstwist -w wordlist.txt example.com # Dictionary-basedCertificate Details Lookup
# Get full certificate from crt.sh
curl "https://crt.sh/?d=<cert_id>"
# OpenSSL inspection
openssl s_client -connect domain.com:443 -servername domain.com </dev/null 2>/dev/null | \
openssl x509 -noout -textSuspicious Indicators
| Pattern | Risk Level |
|---|---|
| Free CA + new domain + brand keyword | HIGH |
| Wildcard cert on recently registered domain | HIGH |
| Multiple certs for slight domain variants | MEDIUM |
| IDN/punycode domain mimicking brand | HIGH |
| Cert issued same day as domain registration | MEDIUM |
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Certificate Transparency monitoring agent for phishing detection.
Queries crt.sh for certificates matching target domains, detects lookalike
certificates, and identifies potential phishing infrastructure.
"""
import json
import sys
from collections import defaultdict
try:
import requests
HAS_REQUESTS = True
except ImportError:
HAS_REQUESTS = False
def query_crtsh(domain, wildcard=True, expired=False):
"""Query crt.sh for certificates matching a domain."""
if not HAS_REQUESTS:
return []
query = f"%.{domain}" if wildcard else domain
params = {"q": query, "output": "json"}
if not expired:
params["exclude"] = "expired"
try:
resp = requests.get("https://crt.sh/", params=params, timeout=30)
resp.raise_for_status()
return resp.json()
except (requests.RequestException, json.JSONDecodeError) as e:
return [{"error": str(e)}]
def find_lookalike_domains(target_domain, ct_results):
"""Identify certificates for domains that look similar to the target."""
base = target_domain.split(".")[0].lower()
lookalikes = []
for cert in ct_results:
cn = cert.get("common_name", "").lower()
names = cert.get("name_value", "").lower().split("\n")
for name in [cn] + names:
name = name.strip()
if not name or name == target_domain:
continue
similarity = calculate_similarity(base, name.split(".")[0])
if similarity > 0.6 and name != target_domain:
lookalikes.append({
"domain": name,
"similarity": round(similarity, 3),
"issuer": cert.get("issuer_name", ""),
"not_before": cert.get("not_before", ""),
"not_after": cert.get("not_after", ""),
"cert_id": cert.get("id"),
})
seen = set()
unique = []
for l in sorted(lookalikes, key=lambda x: -x["similarity"]):
if l["domain"] not in seen:
seen.add(l["domain"])
unique.append(l)
return unique
def calculate_similarity(s1, s2):
"""Calculate string similarity using Levenshtein-like ratio."""
if s1 == s2:
return 1.0
len1, len2 = len(s1), len(s2)
if len1 == 0 or len2 == 0:
return 0.0
matrix = [[0] * (len2 + 1) for _ in range(len1 + 1)]
for i in range(len1 + 1):
matrix[i][0] = i
for j in range(len2 + 1):
matrix[0][j] = j
for i in range(1, len1 + 1):
for j in range(1, len2 + 1):
cost = 0 if s1[i-1] == s2[j-1] else 1
matrix[i][j] = min(matrix[i-1][j] + 1, matrix[i][j-1] + 1,
matrix[i-1][j-1] + cost)
distance = matrix[len1][len2]
return 1.0 - distance / max(len1, len2)
HOMOGLYPH_MAP = {
"a": ["а", "@", "4"], "e": ["е", "3"], "o": ["о", "0"],
"i": ["і", "1", "l"], "l": ["1", "i", "I"],
"s": ["5", "$"], "t": ["7"], "g": ["9", "q"],
}
def detect_homoglyph_domains(target_domain, ct_results):
"""Detect domains using homoglyph/IDN attacks against target."""
findings = []
base = target_domain.split(".")[0].lower()
for cert in ct_results:
names = cert.get("name_value", "").lower().split("\n")
for name in names:
name = name.strip()
if not name or name == target_domain:
continue
name_base = name.split(".")[0]
if len(name_base) == len(base):
diffs = sum(1 for a, b in zip(base, name_base) if a != b)
if 0 < diffs <= 2:
findings.append({
"domain": name,
"char_differences": diffs,
"cert_id": cert.get("id"),
"issuer": cert.get("issuer_name", ""),
})
return findings
def analyze_issuer_patterns(ct_results):
"""Analyze certificate issuer patterns for anomalies."""
issuer_counts = defaultdict(int)
free_cas = ["Let's Encrypt", "ZeroSSL", "Buypass"]
for cert in ct_results:
issuer = cert.get("issuer_name", "Unknown")
issuer_counts[issuer] += 1
free_ca_certs = sum(
count for issuer, count in issuer_counts.items()
if any(ca.lower() in issuer.lower() for ca in free_cas)
)
return {
"issuers": dict(issuer_counts),
"total_certs": len(ct_results),
"free_ca_count": free_ca_certs,
"free_ca_ratio": round(free_ca_certs / max(len(ct_results), 1), 3),
}
def detect_wildcard_abuse(ct_results):
"""Detect suspicious wildcard certificate patterns."""
wildcards = []
for cert in ct_results:
cn = cert.get("common_name", "")
if cn.startswith("*."):
wildcards.append({
"domain": cn,
"issuer": cert.get("issuer_name", ""),
"not_before": cert.get("not_before", ""),
})
return wildcards
def generate_report(target_domain, ct_results):
"""Generate comprehensive CT monitoring report."""
lookalikes = find_lookalike_domains(target_domain, ct_results)
homoglyphs = detect_homoglyph_domains(target_domain, ct_results)
issuer_analysis = analyze_issuer_patterns(ct_results)
wildcards = detect_wildcard_abuse(ct_results)
risk_score = 0
risk_score += min(len(lookalikes) * 10, 40)
risk_score += min(len(homoglyphs) * 15, 30)
risk_score += 20 if issuer_analysis["free_ca_ratio"] > 0.8 else 0
risk_score = min(risk_score, 100)
return {
"target_domain": target_domain,
"total_certificates": len(ct_results),
"lookalike_domains": lookalikes[:20],
"homoglyph_domains": homoglyphs[:20],
"issuer_analysis": issuer_analysis,
"wildcard_certs": wildcards[:10],
"risk_score": risk_score,
"risk_level": "HIGH" if risk_score >= 60 else "MEDIUM" if risk_score >= 30 else "LOW",
}
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("=" * 60)
print("Certificate Transparency Phishing Detection Agent")
print("crt.sh queries, lookalike detection, homoglyph analysis")
print("=" * 60)
domain = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else None
if not domain:
print("\n[DEMO] Usage: python agent.py <target_domain>")
print(" e.g. python agent.py example.com")
sys.exit(0)
if not HAS_REQUESTS:
print("[!] Install requests: pip install requests")
sys.exit(1)
print(f"\n[*] Querying crt.sh for: {domain}")
results = query_crtsh(domain)
print(f"[*] Found {len(results)} certificates")
report = generate_report(domain, results)
print(f"\n--- Lookalike Domains ({len(report['lookalike_domains'])}) ---")
for l in report["lookalike_domains"][:10]:
print(f" [{l['similarity']:.3f}] {l['domain']} (issuer: {l['issuer'][:40]})")
print(f"\n--- Homoglyph Domains ({len(report['homoglyph_domains'])}) ---")
for h in report["homoglyph_domains"][:10]:
print(f" [diff={h['char_differences']}] {h['domain']}")
print(f"\n--- Issuer Analysis ---")
for issuer, count in sorted(report["issuer_analysis"]["issuers"].items(),
key=lambda x: -x[1])[:5]:
print(f" {count:4d} | {issuer[:60]}")
print(f"\n[*] Risk Score: {report['risk_score']}/100 ({report['risk_level']})")
Related skills
How it compares
Agent-guided CT hunting skill—not a replacement for managed brand-protection SaaS or full pentest engagements.
FAQ
Who is analyzing-certificate-transparency-for-phishing for?
Developers and small teams defending a public brand or login surface who want agent help reviewing Certificate Transparency for impersonation domains.
When should I use analyzing-certificate-transparency-for-phishing?
During Ship security hardening, after launch when monitoring abuse, or when validating that a reported phishing URL is tied to a fresh cert.
Is analyzing-certificate-transparency-for-phishing safe to install?
It may call external CT APIs or run network queries; review the Security Audits panel on this page and the full SKILL.md before granting network permissions.