What is the consequence of not using certificate inspection in application traffic scanning?

The selection of that answer highlights a critical understanding of the importance of certificate inspection in application traffic scanning. Without certificate inspection, encrypted traffic, such as HTTPS, can remain opaque and indiscernible to security systems. This limitation means that those systems cannot effectively analyze the content or context of the encrypted data, which can lead to an inability to identify and classify the applications using that traffic.

In scenarios where encrypted traffic is present, security measures can only inspect non-encrypted portions. As a result, a significant volume of unknown applications may traverse the network without proper scrutiny. This opens a gap that malicious actors could exploit, as they may utilize encrypted channels to transmit harmful data or exploit vulnerabilities unnoticed. Therefore, the absence of certificate inspection means the security infrastructure cannot perform detailed examination, resulting in a higher risk of undetected threats and misuse of encrypted channels.

While other consequences like potential operational speed improvements or security bypasses may seem relevant, the core issue revolves around the inability to analyze encrypted traffic effectively. This recognition forms the basis for prioritizing certificate inspection as part of a robust security strategy to ensure comprehensive visibility and control over all network traffic, particularly those that are encrypted.