What is ELSACCN-CERT?

ELSACCN-CERT is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by CCN-CERT / Centro Criptologico Nacional.

Bot name
ELSACCN-CERT
Operator
CCN-CERT / Centro Criptologico Nacional
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About ELSACCN-CERT

CCN-CERT authorized security assessment bot monitoring Internet-facing attack surface for external exposure.

Security scanners probe sites for vulnerabilities, certificates and exposed services. Some are research projects, some are vendors you hired. Allow your own scanners and block the rest at the WAF.

ELSACCN-CERT user agent

ELSACCN-CERT identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner/1.4 (+https://www.ccn-cert.cni.es/es/soluciones-seguridad/elsa.html; [email protected])

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block ELSACCN-CERT in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether ELSACCN-CERT follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block ELSACCN-CERT from the whole site

User-agent: ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner
Disallow: /

Block ELSACCN-CERT from some folders

User-agent: ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow ELSACCN-CERT only on some folders

User-agent: ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow ELSACCN-CERT and block other crawlers

User-agent: ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner group, ELSACCN-CERT ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner from ELSACCN-CERT's user agent; check CCN-CERT / Centro Criptologico Nacional's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. ELSACCN-CERT may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that ELSACCN-CERT follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send ELSACCN-CERT's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by CCN-CERT / Centro Criptologico Nacional's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real ELSACCN-CERT from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about ELSACCN-CERT

Publishers

Allow ELSACCN-CERT if it is a service you use, and keep its visits out of page views and ad requests either way.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

ELSACCN-CERT is not a person. Exclude it from campaign and conversion data so reports reflect real visitors.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Allow ELSACCN-CERT only if it works for your store, and keep it away from cart and checkout.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

If ELSACCN-CERT is a service you use, allow it on the endpoints it needs and block it elsewhere.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block ELSACCN-CERT with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows ELSACCN-CERT by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control ELSACCN-CERT on your site

  • See every ELSACCN-CERT visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit ELSACCN-CERT with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is ELSACCN-CERT?

ELSACCN-CERT is a bot in the security scanners category, operated by CCN-CERT / Centro Criptologico Nacional. CCN-CERT authorized security assessment bot monitoring Internet-facing attack surface for external exposure.

Does ELSACCN-CERT respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether ELSACCN-CERT follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block ELSACCN-CERT?

Add "User-agent: ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "ELSA-CCNCERT-scanner" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block ELSACCN-CERT?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so ELSACCN-CERT may not follow it, and anyone can send ELSACCN-CERT's user agent, so a fake ELSACCN-CERT ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block ELSACCN-CERT?

Security scanners probe sites for vulnerabilities, certificates and exposed services. Some are research projects, some are vendors you hired. Allow your own scanners and block the rest at the WAF.

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