What are the stages in a certificate's lifecycle?
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The authenticity of those sending emails or running websites is questioned every day, as attackers will pretend to be someone they are not to compromise sensitive data of Internet users. The easiest way to prove this authenticity is through use of a digital certificate. Digital certificates utilize key pairs that only the creator of the key pair can own, thus proving they are who they say they are. The certificates are also created and signed by trusted authorities called Certificate Authorities, or CAs. CAs utilize a Chain of Trust, leading back to the original CA which is kept offline and secure, to ensure it cannot be compromised.
Certificates are not just created and given to users, however. They follow an important lifecycle which works to protect and renew certificates, so they can be continually used without fear of attackers stealing them and masking themselves as the owner of the certificate. The trust in certificates created by a certificate authority begins with the assurance that its certificate lifecycle is well managed and immune to compromise. The certificate lifecycle is extremely important to implement, as it is the equivalent of the identity of the user it is issued to.
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Why is the Certificate Lifecycle important?
One of the reasons implementing the?certificate lifecycle?is important is due to what certificates are used for. Certificates identify websites and users on the Internet, meaning if a certificate were compromised at any point in its lifecycle, an attacker could pretend to be that person, and the user who that certificate belongs to would be blamed for any attacks associated with that certificate. Also, since the user’s key is associated with their digital certificate, that key would also be compromised, as would any data that was encrypted by that same key.
Another reason to maintain a strong certificate lifecycle is its use with websites. A compromise of a website’s digital certificate can result in outages, causing losses for the organization whose website it is. The website could also be used to infect user’s computers with malware or execute phishing campaigns, under the guise of the website owner. The first step to the proper implementation of a certificate lifecycle is knowing what each stage of the lifecycle is, and how to protect each stage.