# Secure Bots and Service Account using x509 Certificates

DevFeed: [Secure Bots and Service Account using x509 Certificates](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/secure-bots-and-service-account-using-x509-certificates-29690.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://goteleport.com/blog/how-to-secure-bots-and-service-account-access/>)

Author: sakshyam.shah@goteleport.com (Sakshyam Shah)

Published: 2022-05-11T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Teleport](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/teleport.md>)

Topics: [Bot](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/bot.md>), [certificates](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/certificates.md>), [Authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/authentication.md>), [CI/CD](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cicd.md>)

Tags: [authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/authentication.md>), [bots](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bots.md>), [certificates](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/certificates.md>), [ci-cd](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ci-cd.md>), [environment-variables](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/environment-variables.md>)

## AI overview

The post argues that static keys and credentials are inadequate for bot and service-account authentication because stolen credentials can be misused for long periods. It recommends scoped, ephemeral, auto-renewing certificates for machine-to-machine access.

## Source excerpt

This post explains why scoped, ephemeral certificate-based authentication for bots and service accounts is the safest alternative to token and key-based auth.