Managing Certificates via PAM360

Digital certificates play a critical role in ensuring secure communication within and outside an organization. They provide authentication, enable secure connections, and maintain trust by verifying the identities of entities in a networked environment. However, managing digital certificates can be a complex task due to their varying lifecycles, compliance requirements, and the risks of certificate expiration or mismanagement.

To address these challenges, organizations should adopt a centralized Privilege Access Management solution that include robust certificate management capabilities. This is where the PAM360 application comes into spotlight with its streamlined certificate-related operations, enhanced security, and the risk reduction of service outages caused by expired or invalid certificates.

In this document, you will learn about the prominence of managing certificates within the organization and how the PAM360 application assists you in managing digital certificates in the organization.

1. Importance of Managing Certificates in an Organization

• Enhanced Security: Protects sensitive data by encrypting communications and authenticating entities in a network.
• Compliance and Governance: Helps meet industry standards and regulatory requirements for secure communication.
• Operational Efficiency: Prevents downtime and costly breaches by automating certificate management tasks.
• Risk Mitigation: Identifies and mitigates risks of certificate expiration, unauthorized access, and misconfigured certificates.

2. Necessity of PAM360 for Managing Certificates

• Centralized Platform: A unified application medium for managing diverse certificates across the enterprise.
• Manual and Automated Operations: Streamlines manual and automated certificate-related operations, reducing frequent intervention and errors.
• Discovery at Ease: Enables organizations to discover, identify and manage all certificates in use, reducing the likelihood of shadow IT.
• Diverse Integration: Works seamlessly with private and public Certificate Authorities (CAs) for end-to-end lifecycle management.
• Scalability: Supports large-scale deployments with diverse certificate types and use cases.

3. Public Certificate Authority Integrations

PAM360 enables seamless integration and comprehensive management of certificates from the following trusted providers, offering a unified platform to streamline certificate operations. With PAM360, users can efficiently perform key actions such as certificate creation, issuance, renewal, revocation, and status updates - all within the application. This integrated approach provides a centralized view of certificates across multiple providers, ensuring streamlined control, enhanced visibility, and simplified management for optimal security and compliance.

• Let's Encrypt
• GoDaddy
• The SSL Store™
• DigiCert
• GlobalSign
• Buypass Go
• ZeroSSL
• AWS-ACM
• Azure Key Vault
• Sectigo

4. Certificate Operations in PAM360

The PAM360 application provides comprehensive certificate management capabilities, including:

1. Certificate Discovery: Supports the discovery of certificates across your network and categorizes certificates based on parameters like type, issuer, expiration date, and status, enabling quick and efficient management. Additionally, it identifies expired, duplicate, or unauthorized certificates, helping administrators mitigate risks and maintain a secure certificate ecosystem.
2. CSR Management: Centralizes the management of Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs), making it easy to generate, store, and track CSRs in one place. It streamlines the submission process to CAs, reducing complexity and ensuring efficient certificate lifecycle management.
3. Certificate Creation: Simplifies the generation of new certificates tailored to diverse use cases such as server or client authentication. With support for different key sizes and cryptographic algorithms, PAM360 ensures flexibility and adherence to modern security standards for certificate creation.
4. Certificate Requests: With direct integration to private and public Certificate Authorities (CAs), PAM360 simplifies the process of requesting certificates. Users can submit requests directly from the application, streamlining operations with internal or external CAs.
5. Certificate Signing and Issuance: PAM360 enables seamless certificate signing with support for both self-signed root certificates and Microsoft Certificate Authority (MSCA). Administrators can issue certificates based on predefined policies and requirements, ensuring compliance with organizational standards. PAM360 facilitates consistent, efficient, and secure certificate issuance across diverse environments.
   
6. Certificate Renewal: To prevent disruptions caused by expired certificates, PAM360 supports manual and automated the renewal process, ensuring certificates are renewed well before their expiration. Proactive notifications alert administrators about upcoming expirations, providing ample time for action, thus safeguarding uninterrupted operations.
7. Certificate Revocation: PAM360 allows administrators to promptly revoke certificates that are compromised, redundant, or unauthorized. It ensures that updates are reflected in Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) or Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responders, maintaining the integrity and security of your certificate landscape.

PAM360 with its integrated certificate management capabilities, including consolidation of certificates from major third-party CAs, empowers organizations to secure their IT infrastructure, meet compliance requirements, and operate efficiently. By centralizing and automating certificate-related operations, businesses can significantly reduce risks, enhance operational resilience, and streamline their security management processes.