Businesses must manage their digital certificates promptly and correctly. Doing so will ensure their site is protected and a safe and secure place for their customers.
To understand this process, let’s look at the lifecycle of a certificate and how investing in a certificate lifestyle management system is an outstanding and sensible choice.
The Lifecycle of a Digital Certificate
Obtaining a digital or SSL certificate requires going through several stages. First, the certificate must be created and issued, and then it has to be deployed or installed on the server that will use it. Once they are up and running, the digital security certificates will help keep online transactions safe and secure. If the certificate is no longer needed, or if it becomes corrupted in any way, it will be canceled or revoked. Certificates are not valid for an infinite amount of time; they must be renewed by certain dates to keep working.
The Problem with Managing Digital Certificates
Digital certificates, while essential for businesses to ensure online security, are not easy for companies to maintain independently. You would need a dedicated team to handle each stage in the certificate’s lifecycle, multiplied by the number of certificates your company uses. It can be difficult and time-consuming to locate a particular certificate that is having an issue in a timely fashion, and if one should expire, online service can be disrupted, and security will be weakened.
While it is possible to manage digital certificates and adopt SSL certificate authority in-house, many companies wish to avoid these time-consuming processes, along with their detailed spreadsheets and potential for problems.
Fortunately, there is a solution: automated certificate lifecycle management.
The Role of an Automated Certificate Management System
As its name implies, an automated certificate management system allows businesses to discover, issue, renew, and manage all aspects of their digital certificates’ lifecycles from one platform.
Rather than having to keep tabs on when each certificate will expire, the platform will manage the lifecycle of the digital certificates, including renewing them as needed.
For example, an exemplary certificate manager platform, like Sectigo, will monitor every digital certificate that a company uses while also proactively renewing them and, if need be, helping with the revocation of a certificate.
From one intuitive interface, company managers and IT departments can use the universal certificate platform, a TLS management platform, or PKI management. Sectigo not only automates the issuance and management of its certificates but also from publicly trusted Certificate Authorities like Microsoft ADCS and others. It will deploy and automate the lifecycle management of certificates across every server your company utilizes and can prevent hacking and phishing emails with encrypted email security.
Digital Certificates are Too Important to Manage In-House
A security breach is the last thing a business owner needs to contend with. Keeping digital certificates current and running smoothly can ensure that the company’s servers are safe and secure.
Rather than assign the management of such an in-depth process to your already-busy IT department or other team, it is worthwhile to consider investing in an automated certificate lifecycle management system. This way, busy managers can focus on what they do best—running their company—and leaving certificate lifecycle management’s essential but challenging tasks to a trustworthy, efficient, and budget-friendly automated platform.
© 2023 The Havok Journal
The Havok Journal welcomes re-posting of our original content as long as it is done in compliance with our Terms of Use.
