crtMAN enables the creation of the process necessary for the effective and efficient operation of the lifecycle management of digital certificates . The design required to create the inventory of digital certificates is also created by crtMAN . crtMAN, which facilitates quite complex and challenging digital certificate processes , is a service that provides significant added value to institutions .
Digital certificates ( also known as x.509 Certificates ) are one of the most important components of cyber security. Digital certificates are the only way to secure web services and authenticate machines . Now HTTP, LDAP, SMTP, FTP, RDP, etc. Most protocols are encrypted through digital certificates . Increasing data breaches and security incidents have once again demonstrated the importance of digital certificates. However, the increase in the use and volume of digital certificates brings with it a serious management challenge .
Certificate lifecycle management is a process that covers operations such as installing, inventorying, monitoring, securing and renewing a digital certificate from its production to its expiration . The most important step in successful certificate lifecycle management is discovery and inventory creation . Because certificates have limited lifespans, a missed certificate could result in a severe service outage .
A guide for effective certificate lifecycle management was published in the ” Effectively Manage Your Organization’s Certificates ” report published by Gartner in 2024 . In this guide , seven core functions are defined as shown in the image below .
Accordingly, choosing a flexible and adaptable automation application with advanced features is seen as the most important component. In addition, automation alone is not sufficient; good planning and structuring of the processes to be defined for the functions is another important component.
crtMAN is a service with technical and consulting components provided by Forcerta for effective and efficient digital certificate lifecycle management . Digital certificates are of great importance in today’s cyber security field . For this reason, it is widely used in institutions’ systems and applications. Research[1] has revealed that by the end of 2021, the number of certification-related systems (applications, machines, operating systems, etc.) per institution is 250,000 on average and is expected to increase by 42% annually .
For installations with more than 10,000 employees , this figure rises to 320,000 by the beginning of 2022 and is projected to more than quadruple to 1.3 million by 2025 . These figures reveal that the management of digital certificates requires a comprehensive and detailed study . If these studies do not have proper feasibility and project planning, it will inevitably turn into a process that takes years . With the crtMAN service, institutions will easily overcome the challenges shared below .
Digital certificates include the following operations throughout their lifecycle:
The subcomponents of these operations vary depending on the target system. For example, the certificate formats , secret key properties and installation of certificates used by a Linux-based system and a Windows-based system are completely different from each other. The certificate procedures here vary completely depending on whether a service published on load balancer devices is L4 or SSL offloaded .
In short, all these systems must be evaluated in detail from end to end . crtMAN service provides the knowledge and experience that institutions need in certificate lifecycle management . In addition, it offers the design and architectural studies required to operate complex certification processes at a certain standard .
