Digital SSL certificates and their management

Thanks to the SSL-certificate users around the world can exchange confidential information, secure in the knowledge that it is protected from malicious hackers, and safely use the Internet for communication in business and personal purposes, including for banking and shopping, and also for social interaction and product development.

In the context of information explosion and the rapid spread of cloud computing the importance of SSL-certificates is increasing even more. Without confidence that they are on the legitimate and not a fake site, users are careful to share valuable information and operational data. The popularity of social networking sites and the emphasis on cooperation through the Internet in modern enterprises lead to a further increase in SSL-certificates values ​​using the Internet both in working and personal purposes. There is a growing volume of personal and professional information that users share on the network and, therefore, they need assurance that their data is protected.

The transition to 2048-bit certificates helps boost confidence of website owners in secure data exchange. Nevertheless, the threat to the security for companies, even provide a high level of protection, remains high. One of the main reasons for this is the poor management of SSL-certificates.

Four reasons for the ineffectiveness of the SSL-certificate management

Enterprises with hundreds (or even thousands) SSL-certificates from different vendors can be easy to lose sight of them. In this case, the certificate expiration can go unnoticed for months. When you try to go to such a site you will see a warning in browser. Web sites are unprotected and their visitors – vulnerable to malicious attacks.

Sometimes employees install self-signed certificates on their own initiative. Certificates installed without the knowledge of the IT department, as a rule, are not controlled and may be contrary to corporate rules.

If SSL-certificates are configured or installed incorrectly, when users attempt to visit the site in the browser window appears a warning that may lead to downtime.

As a result of non-compliance with best practices the company might be in a situation where its certificates do not meet regulatory requirements, and websites become vulnerable to hacker attacks and other hazards. SSL-certificates may have insufficient key length, algorithm or unreliable to be issued by a certification authority with violations of security.

Cost of problems with SSL-certificates

The cost of ownership of an unauthorized or invalid SSL-certificate can be substantial. Manage SSL- certificates difficult: only 27% of companies that participated in the survey believe that SSL-certificates management in the cloud – a simple task. Cost of installation errors and manually settings can be very high. This can cause damage to the business, and to remove problems related to improper installation, you will have to use additional resources and divert IT staff from working on important projects. Errors associated with the human factor, increase the risk to the security of the website and users.

In addition, multi-step and complex process of tracking the certificates manually using Excel spreadsheets is time-consuming for IT staff. In large data centers a lot of time is spent on managing certificates issued by different CAs. Missed transaction – another important cost factor. When receive a message that the certificate expires, 43% of corporate users will cancel the transaction and 77% of consumers – refuse to buy certificate.

In addition, the rising costs of the enterprise associated with the increasing number of requests to the IT support on the part of employees and customers, receiving warnings about invalid certificates.

In many companies there are internal safety regulations must be observed. Expenditures of organizations on the elimination of the consequences of non-compliance with regulatory requirements can exceed three times the cost of measures for the implementation of the required data security standards.

In general, certificate tracking manually – a complicated process that involves many challenges and large costs. The main share of the costs associated with the poor management of certificates, it is necessary to “business continuity violation” and “reduction in the efficiency of IT systems”.