Create and deploy mass PKI certificates
Digital certificates are the guardians of modern electronic commerce and secure communication. But what’s all this about? Where did they come from? How do you manage the issuance, distribution, and maintenance of certificates, especially when you have many servers and little time to configure them? Let’s answer these questions one by one.
What is a digital certificate?
A digital certificate (also called an identity certificate or a public key certificate) is a digital certificate issued by a certification authority (CA), an authority that verifies the identity and authenticates the possession of a public key. The most popular CAs are DigiCert, Sectigo, and Entrust. A digital certificate is required for the secure exchange of data over the internet using a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
What type of security does the digital certificate offer?
- Identification/Authentication: To make sure that you really are the person or creature you say you are.
- Privacy: The information in a message or transaction can only be understood by the actual sender and the intended recipient.
- Integrity: To confirm that the original message or transaction has not been altered inadvertently or intentionally, the following is required
- Denial: The sender cannot refuse to send a message and the recipient cannot refuse to receive it.
Digital certificate types
- Safety Certificate for Transport Layers (TLS) :
The purpose of these certificates is to ensure that the communication between the client and the server is encrypted. SSL/TLS certificates are stored on servers such as application servers, SMTP servers, web servers, etc. A website that relies on an SSL/TLS certificate displays a padlock icon in the address bar and the secure URL starts with HTTPS:// instead of HTTP://, wheres means secure.
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These certificates are used by client systems to prove their identity to the remote server. Customer certificates play an important role in many mutual authentication projects because they provide the applicant with proof of identity.
- Code Signature Certificates :
A digital signature added to the software by the publisher confirms that the code has not been changed after signing. Certificates for signing codes also serve as proof that the files have not changed since they were downloaded.
Why do we need SSL/TLS certificates?
In today’s digital world, SSL/TLS certificates are no longer a luxury, but an absolute necessity.
These are just some of the great advantages of using the TLS:
- TLS protects data
- TLS confirms your identity
- This way you get a better ranking in the search engines.
- TLS helps you meet the requirements of the payment card industry
- Improves customer confidence
How do I get an SSL Certificate?
Here is a simple diagram of how a user would request and receive a certificate from a CA. Learn more about how the process works – SSL
Certificates and Protocol
How does AppViewX help?
AppViewX helps you create and manage certificates through automation. It uses an intuitive user interface that allows you to keep track of all your certificates, even if you have thousands or tens of thousands. After configuring the CA settings, AppViewX follows a simple workflow to generate a private key (in the device or in the escrow), create a CSR, and send it to the CA. The CA responds with a certificate, which is then configured by AppViewX for the target device.
For organizations that need to deploy hundreds of servers in a short period of time, AppViewX can help automate the mass process using a visual workflow.
The only things the security team needs for AppViewX is a .csv file with the certificate data and the server name.
Each server is managed in the AppViewX Device Inventory, where the workflow can retrieve all necessary information and drag and drop certificates to the appropriate servers.
AppViewX can also provide a report after the successful creation and transfer of a certificate.
But the PKI life cycle involves much more than issuing certificates and reaching the endpoints. AppViewX offers CERT+, a comprehensive certificate management software package that enables full automation of key and certificate life cycles in multi-key environments. AppViewX makes certificate management smarter and more efficient by providing infinite cryptographic scalability and agility.