The Role of Security Certificates in Modern IT Infrastructure
Today, most organizations’ growth and success hinge on modern IT infrastructure. Networks, web servers, connected systems, and other IT assets facilitate smooth operations and communication. Every aspect of your business will suffer if one of them is compromised. You need to deploy security certificates across your organization to mitigate the security risks to your critical infrastructure. They are one of the most effective responses in your fight against security threats.
Security certificates, also called digital certificates, are small data files that verify the identity of web browsers, websites, servers, and virtual networks. They establish an encrypted connection between web browsers and web servers – that ensures that the confidential data and information are secure and private. SSL, short for Secure Sockets Layer, is one of the most well-known security certificates. It confirms to users that your website is secure; they may see a “not secure” warning on their screen if you have not deployed it. The appearance of such a warning can sound like a death knell for your business.
The Vital Role of Security Certificates
Let’s look at the role security certificates play in your IT infrastructure.
Secure Exchange of Sensitive Information
Businesses like financial institutions and healthcare organizations use public key infrastructure (PKI) to secure online communication. PKI allows a sender to encrypt their message with a private key, which the receiver decodes by using a public key. Without digital certificates, this message can be compromised during transit. Cybercriminals can modify it and pose as the sender using fake private keys. When such an altered message from a malicious element reaches the receiver’s end, it can result in a data breach – as the message’s authenticity or the sender’s cannot be determined. Security certificates solve this problem by verifying the identity of the sender/receiver, thus ensuring secure data transmission over a network. This is all possible, when you’ve a robust and foolproof idea management system in-place, guiding you to take the right steps towards the right direction, ensuring your company website is complying with all the prescribed security protocols for best managing its IT and web resources, across the board.
Digital certificates are used by most organizations across industries. Some, such as credit card companies, use them to ensure authentic and secure transactions, while others deploy them to tell their users that their websites can be trusted. Security certificates, however, have a limited lifespan. Once their validity period ends, they will cease to safeguard the exchange of sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access. It would be best if you renewed the soon-to-expire certificates. A certificate management system can help you ensure that.
Certificate Management System
With a security certificate management system, you can manage the entire lifecycle of your certificates – enrollment, validity, revocation, and renewal – from a single interface. As it automates the certificate issuance and management process, there is no delay in the renewal or replacement of certificates. Visibility is another advantage of using the certificate management system. When you can monitor all your certificates throughout their lifecycle, you are better informed about the issues and compliance risks. That allows you to ensure the validity of your security certificates, thus preventing security breaches and outages.
Invest in Modern Certificate Management Tools
To secure their IT environment, businesses adopting modern IT infrastructure must consider leveraging modern certificate management tools or security certificate management systems, such as PKI managers. A PKI manager helps you by issuing and renewing certificates automatically.
For example, Sectigo’s certificate management solutions automate the entire lifecycle management process – from issuance to renewal. That prevents any disruption in your business operation due to data or security breaches.
