The Rise of Automated Certificate Management: Simplifying Security at Scale

"Digital certificates play a major role in enterprise security as they protect everything from websites and applications to IoT devices and cloud workloads. But large organizations are now juggling with thousands of certificates across hybrid and multi-cloud environments and managing them has never been more challenging. To make it even harder, certificate lifespans are reduced to 398 days and are expected to shrink even more in the coming years. At this pace, spreadsheets and manual reminders are no longer a realistic option."

"The manual approach to certificate management no longer works well in the rapid, complex IT world. Many organizations still handle their certificates manually, a method which will soon become impossible to manage since digital ecosystems are developing rapidly. Without centralized visibility, teams lack a clear picture of where the certificates are deployed, who owns them and when they expire. This can be impossible to track in a dynamic environment, where the lifespan of each certificate can be two or three hours in practice."

"Even the most disciplined teams may overlook certificates. One missed renewal may lead to unplanned service outages, application downtime or even user disruptions. In some situations, expired certificates have resulted in breaches or compliance violations because of broken encryption or failed authentication. And as enterprises expand into cloud, DevOps, and IoT, this problem only grows. The Growing Complexity of Modern IT Modern IT is no longer defined by a single data center. Enterprises now operate certificates in:"

Digital certificates protect websites, applications, IoT devices, and cloud workloads, forming a foundation of enterprise security. Large organizations manage thousands of certificates across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, and certificate lifespans have been reduced to 398 days with further reductions expected. Spreadsheets and manual reminders cannot scale to these volumes and faster lifecycles. Lack of centralized visibility obscures certificate locations, owners, and expiration dates, especially in dynamic environments where some certificates may live only hours. Missed renewals can cause outages, downtime, and security or compliance incidents. Automation and centralized certificate lifecycle management are necessary to maintain security, resilience, and compliance at scale.

Read at Business Matters