While most people wonder whether those running websites or sending emails are authentic, proving this can be challenging. The best way to verify this authenticity is by using a digital certificate. You get a digital certificate from certification authorities. With the number of users of today’s network increasing exponentially, such systems require enough coordination to provide the services.
You need to understand the lifecycle of digital certificates to avoid any problems during the process. A valid certificate is mandatory to establish your authenticity and protect your customers’ information. These are the six stages of the certificate lifecycle that you need to know.
1. Certificate Enrollment
As a fundamental stage of the certificate lifecycle management services, Certificate Enrollment is the first step, where you send requests to the certification authority (CA).
When placing a request, you must specify your IP address, domain name, and email address. Once you request a certificate, CA will verify the information based on its rules, make, and post certificates.
They will then issue you with an authentication certificate. As a separate process, it might require the intervention of management. While in the database, the certificate can only be available to the entity which initiated the process.
To maintain authentication, you should make sure that you know all the certificate locations. If you lose track of the certificate, it will expire without your knowledge. Typically, the CA sets policies that guide the user.
2. Certificate Validation
When using a certificate, you should check its status. Doing so will enable you to verify whether the certificate is working or not. The CA checks and verifies the certificate and whether it is already in the Certification Revocation List.
This stage is where the certificate management systems check breaches, compromises, and the expiry date of certificates. To check whether the authority should revoke the certificates, it uses the inventory from the first stage. Once done, the certificates move to the revoked or renewal step.
You can also use applications to check the certificate configuration. This stage is a critical one, and you must be wary of losing devices with stored certificates.
3. Certificate Revocation
When a certificate authority issues you a digital certificate, it must have an expiry date that shows whether it is still valid or not. If a certificate needs to undergo revocation before the date, the CA may provide instructions to include it in the Certificate Revocation List.
The CA may also revoke a certificate if it deems that there is a compromise. Plus, if the user will no longer work within your organization, you may need to cancel the certificates. If your certificate is revoked, the CA must provide you with a reason code. Revoked certificates are usually kept in the list. When you initiate a connection, it checks for any problems and ensures that the certificate is not in the CRL list.
Once you move from paying for certificates to creating your public key infrastructure, you will want to replace the certificate. Since it is much easier to renew a certificate than to replace it, this process is quite rare. Certificates in this list are there for a reason – for the revocation.
4. Certificate Renewal
When a certificate reaches its expiry date, it automatically enters the Certificate Revocation List. You can also renew it if you want to continue using it. Meant to be automatic when renewing the certificate, it is essential to choose whether to generate new public and private keys or not.
Having a short lifespan, you need to replace or renew the certificates upon expiry. Approximately 90 days after the expiry date, you will receive a notice with information on renewal and a new encryption key.
By renewing the certificate, you will prevent the theft of sensitive information and secure your important keys.
5. Certificate Destruction
When a certificate becomes useless, any archives and backup copies become of no use. Given that they can impact security, they should undergo destruction together with their private keys. To ensure there is no certificate compromise, you should destroy every revoked or expired certificate.
Destruction of certificates can happen in various stages, including:
- Verifying whether the certificate is present in the directory
- Checking the certificate revocation list
- Configuring the Online Certificate Status to determine the status of certificates
You can shred any copies of the certificate and keys from your computer to ensure that nobody has access to them.
6. Certificate Auditing
Certificate Auditing refers to the monitoring of creation, expiry, and revocation of certificates. In certain instances, it may involve every successful use of the certificate. By continuously checking for compromises and breaches, you will allow the system to take the right action for each certificate.
This stage involves keeping track of all the roles and functions of CA. This way, you will protect your business from hackers and prevent malicious online activities that could damage your system or steal information.
Summary
While there are six significant stages of the certificate lifecycle, each requires a unique method of protection. For instance, the enrollment stage acts as a security measure, while the validation stage checks for expired, compromised, and wrongly-used certificates. You also need to continuously monitor the certificates and develop an audit for compliance and governance purposes.
