It is virtually impossible to have a safe public (internet) presence without PKI certificates.
If you have only a few certificates, then managing them won’t be much of an issue. But if your organization has multiple web applications and entry points, or if you’re in highly regulated industries like finance and healthcare, then you’re likely responsible for thousands of PKI certificates requiring constant attention.
This can be overwhelming, especially knowing that simple things, such as missing a renewal, may lead to outages or compliance issues.
The Keyfactor team gets this, so we’ve put together this guide to help you manage and scale your PKI certificates efficiently.
Here are six key points to follow.
#1 – Create a comprehensive inventory of your PKI certificates
The first step in managing your PKI certificates is knowing exactly how many you have. This may seem like a no-brainer, but many companies don’t have good visibility of their PKI.
The question is, how do they manage certificates they don’t even know exist? Although some organizations prioritize identifying their certificates, many still use outdated methods like spreadsheets or CA-provided tools, which are notorious for missing rogue certificates that create security gaps.
The solution? Use an automated PKI certificate discovery and inventory tool that can scan your infrastructure for all certificates, active or expired, and provide a centralized inventory that is easy to manage.
Before choosing a tool, ensure it integrates easily with your systems, offers automation, provides a user-friendly interface, and, most importantly, is scalable.
Keyfactor Command, a PKI certificate discovery tool that can be deployed on-prem, as a service, or combined with cloud-hosted private PKI, is perfect for gaining PKI visibility, even in sprawling and decentralized environments. Command identifies, catalogs, and monitors all certificates, Certificate Authorities (CAs), and related PKI components across an organization’s network.
In fact, customers often find five to ten times more certificates than expected when using it!
# 2 – Manage the lifecycle of your certificates
The lifespan of PKI certificates is shrinking fast.
From years to 398 days, now it’s about to be just 90 days before they expire – no thanks to increased security issues. According to Keyfactor’s 2024 PKI and Digital Trust Report, most enterprises are concerned about the increased workload and risk of outages caused by shorter certificate lifespans.
This fear is not unfounded. IT and security teams are busy and overwhelmed, causing PKI certificate management to take the back seat, often leading to missed renewals, service disruptions, and the likelihood of compromise.
The best way to handle this is by using a certificate lifecycle management (CLM) tool.
A CLM tool, like Keyfactor Command, automatically tracks and renews your digital certificates across your organization’s infrastructure. Command provides a centralized platform to monitor the status of all your certificates and ensure timely renewals to avoid unexpected expiration and service disruptions.
No matter the quantity of your certificates, Keyfactor Command allows you to customize their renewal policies – like initiating the renewal process 30 or 60 days before expiration – and allows you to set up automated renewal alerts and calendars.
# 3 – Automate and centralize your certificates
Let’s say you manually track the renewal dates for all digital certificates in your organization. Next comes the actual renewal process – and this is where things get trickier.
Performed manually, certificate renewal is time-consuming, tedious, and error-prone, especially when done by people less familiar with PKI.
Manual processes are the enemy of modernization, scale, and transformation. In a PKI context, coupled with a lack of PKI expertise, manual processes are a recipe for security disaster.
Automation is the answer.
With a centralized PKI management platform, like EJBCA Enterprise, you don’t have to babysit your certificates. EJBCA Enterprise offers a fast-to-deploy, PQC-ready platform capable of managing thousands to millions of digital certificates. It supports cloud, on-premises, or hybrid deployments, with the ability to scale on-demand without complex infrastructure or per-certificate fees.
# 4 – Ensure crypto-agility
No security implementation is infallible, and no individual encryption method is invincible. So, the only way to increase your chances of staying secure is by being agile.
In a PKI context, this means being crypto-agile. The “ability to move quickly and easily around all things encryption,” not just when your certificates expire but when vulnerabilities are found in algorithms, gives you the upper hand to address flaws before they are exploited.
Implementing crypto-agility manually with a few certificates is inefficient at best and prone to errors because you have to update algorithms, review code, reissue certificates, and ensure they match the right protocols and formats. Now, imagine doing this at scale with thousands of certificates.
We recommend deploying a PKIaaS tool to quickly and automatically change crypto algorithms when security vulnerabilities are detected. A solution like Cloud PKIaaS comes with “find and replace” capabilities that instantly respond to outages and algorithm changes, especially in systems with numerous certificates.
# 5 –Build an experienced team
The increased complexity of managing PKI certificates far outweighs the number of trained professionals available to handle the task. And let’s be honest, companies are often hesitant to invest in training.
Even if you have a collection of PKI tools, they’re not much help if the team using them lacks experience, especially if you’re dealing with a large number of certificates.
Here’s what to do: If you have the resources, create a dedicated in-house PKI staff.
If you don’t, then you might want to consider outsourcing to third-party PKI-as-a-service solutions. These platforms offer the expertise and resources needed to maintain your company’s security.
These third-party services centralize certificate management, help control CA and certificate sprawl while identifying and addressing non-compliance and weak identities. They also provide automated renewal alerts, schedule compliance reports, and integrate with external SIEM and ITSM tools for streamlined workflows and enhanced alerting.
Regardless of whether you keep PKI management in-house or outsource it, consider creating a machine identity management working group. This group, typically made up of stakeholders from IAM, DevOps, Infrastructure, and Cloud teams, will be responsible for making decisions on PKI policies, tooling, and best practices. Their role is to ensure alignment between third-party tools and your company’s specific needs.
# 6 – Integrate modern technologies
Modern technologies like DevOps, IoT, and remote work have led to a surge in digital certificates. Why? Devices, software deployments, remote connections, and cloud services all need to be secured and encrypted.
The challenge is that maintaining PKI certificates internally requires significant resources and specialized expertise, which is becoming harder to find in today’s cybersecurity labour market.
Unfortunately, it’s not feasible to manually manage hundreds of PKI certificates. This is where partnering with a PKI enterprise tool can help.
A tool like EJBCA Enterprise simplifies your PKI infrastructure, offering easy deployment, flexibility, and scalability. It allows your team to focus on other critical security tasks while handling thousands of certificates. It integrates seamlessly into IoT and DevOps workflows, providing identity-first security for devices, workloads, and users.
Managing certificates at scale: modern PKI
Industry analysts recommend that security and risk management leaders effectively manage the scaling of X.509 certificates in their environment, especially when the number exceeds 100.
Keyfactor offers certificate management and automation solutions that help you manage the lifecycle of up to 500 million digital certificates. It helps prevent outages, cuts manual work by up to 90%, provides real-time visibility, and ensures compliance.
Our software moves your organization from a reactive to a proactive approach, in line with your industry’s security and authorization standards.
Let us show you how Keyfactor solutions can efficiently manage your PKI certificates at scale and safeguard your organization.
