Issues with fragmented certificate management

In today’s digital landscape, certificates and keys play a critical role in securing online communication, authenticating identities, and protecting sensitive data. However, managing these certificates effectively is a complex task, especially when organizations face fragmented certificate management—a situation where certificates are handled inconsistently across multiple teams, systems, and geographies.

In a large enterprise organization, we often see different teams automating certificate renewals in their own way. An Azure cloud admin team may have some scripts based on CLI, Graph API etc, a network team is using SCEP, a web application firewall team has taken a ACME approach, and the Kubernetes cluster admins have taken a different ACME approach.

While each ‘silo solution’ may be suitable for each department’s narrow scope, this fragmentation can lead to a range of issues, from security vulnerabilities to operational inefficiencies to no one having the full overview of certificate compliance. Using platform-specific features and scripting towards specific APIs, also make it different to change platforms and technologies as the organization’s needs are changing.

Increased Risk of Expired Certificates

When certificate management is decentralized, it becomes difficult to track expiration dates across various systems. Expired certificates can lead to service disruptions, security warnings, and even complete outages—damaging an organization’s reputation and customer trust.

Security Vulnerabilities

Without a centralized approach, organizations may struggle to enforce consistent security policies, such as using strong encryption algorithms, regularly rotating certificates, or revoking compromised ones. This increases the risk of cyber threats, including man-in-the-middle attacks and unauthorized access.

Compliance and Regulatory Challenges

Many industries must adhere to stringent security regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. Fragmented certificate management makes it harder to maintain proper audit trails, demonstrate compliance, and ensure that certificates meet required security standards.

Operational Inefficiencies

Managing certificates across different teams and environments often leads to duplication of effort, miscommunication, and human errors. IT staff may spend excessive time manually tracking certificates, troubleshooting unexpected outages, or replacing expired ones, leading to productivity loss.

Lack of Visibility and Control

A fragmented system makes it challenging to gain a clear, organization-wide view of all certificates. Without a centralized dashboard or automated tracking solution, IT teams may struggle to identify vulnerabilities, detect rogue certificates, or respond to security incidents effectively.

Solving the Fragmentation Issue

To mitigate these risks, organizations should implement a centralized certificate management system that provides automation, monitoring, and policy enforcement. Investing in tools that offer real-time tracking, expiration alerts, and integration with enterprise security frameworks can enhance security, reduce downtime, and improve compliance.

By addressing fragmented certificate management, businesses can ensure stronger security postures, reduce operational disruptions, and maintain trust with customers and stakeholders.

Managed Keys in two simple steps

• Get the overview - Using our tools and proven processes, you can quickly and at a low cost get an assessment of the current situation.
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