Defaults.Exposed › Methodology › v7 registry › Key strength
Key strength
Methodology v7 · canonical ID cert-key-strength · TLS & Certificates · scored · census as of July 28, 2026
Adequate key length so the encryption can't be brute-forced.
Definition
| Canonical ID | cert-key-strength |
|---|---|
| Category | TLS & Certificates |
| Grade impact | Scored — counts toward the grade |
| Pass | The certificate public key meets modern strength baselines (e.g. RSA ≥ 2048-bit or an equivalent EC key). |
| Fail | The key is below the baseline (e.g. RSA 1024-bit). |
| Example (passing) | Public key: RSA 2048-bit (or EC P-256) |
No-data rule: when this check couldn't be determined for a domain (timeout, SERVFAIL, redacted
source) it returns N/A and is excluded from that domain's scoring denominator — "couldn't determine"
is never counted as a failure. "Determined absent" is a real fail.
Prevalence across the census
The public census rollup does not publish a per-check figure for cert-key-strength (as of July 28, 2026).
Whole-census aggregates live at /data; no number is shown here rather than an estimated one.
Census denominator: 275,666,275 graded domains. Aggregates only — never an individual domain's result.
Fix it
Plain-English impact, cost of ignoring it, and step-by-step remediation: defaults.exposed/en/fix/certificate
Cite this check
Defaults.Exposed, "Key strength (cert-key-strength)", Grading Methodology v7 (census as of July 28, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/methodology/v7/cert-key-strength
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/methodology/v7/cert-key-strength ·
All 34 checks: v7 registry ·
Machine-readable: checks.json ·
Licence: open data