In our digital age, consumer trust is at an all-time low. As data breaches and misinformation about tech security flourish, consumers must know they have a stable and trustworthy network connection. 

Certificate manager platforms help your business with PKI management, cyclically overseeing public and private certificates. Additionally, a quality certificate manager platform can reduce the chance of certificate-related security breaches and ease your customers’ minds. 

SSL/TSL Certificates: How It Works  

Every enterprise with a digital presence requires Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) management to ensure the safe use and compliance of SSL/TLS certificates. These certificates are essential for creating a network’s digital identity and verifying legitimacy for entities looking to connect with a specific endpoint. 

Legitimate certificates are “signed” by a Certificate Authority (CA) as a stamp of trust. Non-CA-signed certificates are considered potentially harmful. As such, browsers do not trust these connections and urge the user to return “back to safety,” as Google says.

The role of certificates cannot be minimized, but managing hundreds, if not thousands, of certificate endpoints isn’t feasible for any organization. 

Why Invest in a Certificate Manager Platform?

Use a certificate manager to avoid receiving a “back to safety” warning and incurring other security-related issues.

As certificates expire over time, they must be carefully managed to avoid appearing as a security threat and losing potential traffic and trust from your users. 

Certificate manager platforms automate the entire lifecycle of your digital certificates, from discovery and provisioning to revocation, replacement, renewal, and everything in between. 

Certificate manager platforms, like Sectigo, offer a single place to manage all of your certificate workflows, and it integrates with leading technology providers to ensure flexibility and customization for your unique environment.

Organizational Benefits

Understanding the importance of a PKI Manager in IT security is essential for any enterprise. There are many benefits to implementing one into your company, both from a security and efficiency standpoint.

Benefits include:  

• New certificate/private key creation
• Automated certificate renewals and revocations 
• Streamlined monitoring to quickly identify expiring SSL certificates 
• Enhanced compliance with industry regulations and record-keeping
• Minimize the risk of security breaches
• Minimized risk of human error in issuing, revoking, renewing, and managing SSL certificates  
• Integration with additional security tools, such as firewalls, for more robust all-around security 

Furthermore, this solution relieves your IT team, allowing them to divert their valuable time to initiatives other than PKI management. 

How Certificate Managers Help Various Industries and Users 

The value of a certificate manager is evident in cross-industry and every enterprise. When implemented, they protect user certificates from unauthorized access, modification, or destruction. This includes using strong encryption, role-based access control, and audit logging.

Implementation examples across industries:

• Financial Services: By processing and renewing their TLS certificates, certificate managers help the organization avoid costly downtime and ensure its customers’ data is secure.
• Healthcare: By monitoring its certificates for expiration and other potential problems, the certificate management platform prevents security incidents and protects sensitive patient data. This, in turn, helps the organization comply with federally mandated laws regarding patient privacy. 
• Government Agencies: This is another example where a certificate management platform can help an organization comply with regulations requiring secure certificates—helping it avoid fines and other penalties.

Clearly, any organization needs a certificate management solution to stay on top of the constant workload certificates create. By using certificate managers, organizations can preserve user confidence in their company and protect their users’ data. To safeguard your company from security issues and boost trust with your users, it’s time to find a certificate manager platform that works for you.