Impact: A Huge Change in Internet Security
With the goal of improving internet security, it has gained wide acceptance worldwide that the maximum life-span of SSL/TLS certificates should be limited to one year.This decision helps to mitigate the threat of compromising cryptographic algorithms by the time they are used which helps mitigate risks that are associated with deploying long-lived certificates.
Why the Change?
Enhanced Safety: A reduced validity period literally limits the window of opportunity for an attacker to exploit a compromised certificate, giving both sides more time for an improved safety response.
Faster Migration to Stronger Cryptography — Organizations are encouraged to adopt better algorithms sooner due to short expiry date cycles.
Reduced impact in the event of a breach: A shorter life reduces the potential damage that can be done with a single compromised certificate.
This modification will require alterations in how organizations handle their certificates:
Impact on Organizations
More Administrative Overhead: Shorter certificate lifetimes will require more frequent renewal, adding to the administrative burden responsible for tasks like generating CSRs, deploying new certificates, and tracking expiration dates.
Automated Certificate Management: You can implement an automated certificate management solution to help minimize the manual efforts and human errors
Higher Chances of Downtime: Certificate renewals if not performed well can lead to temporary outages of a particular website.
Best Practices for SSL/LTLS Certificate Management
Centralized Certificate Management:Manage all the SSL certificates in a central, self-service dashboard at your organization level.
Automatic Renewal: Use automated tools to renew certificates before they expire and limit downtimes.
Security Audits Frequent, Use it to catch and fix security vulnerabilities
Use strong and unique passwords for your CSR
Be Updated: Stay up-to-date with the latest security practices and standards.
By implementing these measures alongside the one-year validity limit, organizations can improve their online security posture and better protect their digital assets.
