What is Certificate Lifecycle Management?
Digital certificates, or certificates, are now an essential weapon in the virtual quiver to protect data and communications. Thanks to them, the identification and authentication of users and machines have become easy, error-free, and risk-free. Digital certificates have become more critical than ever mainly because of the rapid adoption of cloud computing, IoT, automation, government regulations, and a deluge of information. And their growing use has led to an increasing need for certificate lifecycle management.
Certificate management is central to ensuring that all aspects of data and communications are secure. It involves detailed monitoring, processing, and execution of certificate lifecycle processes, including discovery, inventorying, creation, installation, renewal, and revocation.
Processes of Certificate Lifecycle
Discovery: This refers to finding certificates that are stolen, compromised, or about to expire. Once a certificate management system discovers such certificates, the certificate manager can ensure that they are renewed, replaced, or revoked before the loophole is exploited by a malicious actor, causing a security breach.
Inventorying: It’s about maintaining a baseline inventory of certificates follows the discovery phase of the certificate lifecycle. Information of every certificate, such as name, key strength, and expiration date, is added to a database. This makes the process of renewals and revocations easier.
Creation: A user, organization, or machine requests a certificate from a qualified Certificate Authority (CA) in this phase of the certificate lifecycle. Public key and enrollment information are provided when submitting the request. After the CA receives them, it verifies the information and creates and issues the certificate if there are no illegalities.
Installation: This phase involves the installation of the certificate in a secure and easily accessible location. Once it is done, policies of CA come into effect, which ensures the certificate’s security and its proper management.
Renewal: Almost all certificates have a limited validity period. The CA has to renew them on time, before their expiry date, to ensure that they continue to identify and authenticate the user or machine. There are two ways by which certificates are renewed before the scheduled expiration date — either automatically or by the certificate manager.
Revocation: When a certificate gets stolen, or if its private key is compromised, it needs to be revoked. Once it is done, it is submitted to a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) — informing the CA that the certificate is no longer valid.
Importance of Certificate Lifecycle Management
The lack of certificate lifecycle management increases security risk, as, without it, users may not know that the certificate has ceased to be valid. A vulnerable system allows malicious actors to easily access confidential data. Also, if the certificate does not get renewed before the scheduled expiry date, it can result in system downtime. Both security breaches and downtime can affect the performance of an enterprise, making it lose a lot of money.
By leveraging certificate lifecycle management, both users and organizations ensure that certificates are monitored efficiently and regularly. That allows them to take appropriate steps, eliminating costly interruptions.
Certificate Lifecycle Management Solution
The traditional certificate management method using spreadsheets and internally developed tools no longer works, as there are different types of certificates for users and machines. Their high volume also complicates the process. Instead of manually managing certificates, investment in an effective, automated certificate lifecycle management can help individuals and organizations follow guidelines and best practices to handle digital certificates effectively.
