Today, enterprises rely on PKI to manage encryption-based security. The most popular kind of encryption used today consists of a public key, which anybody can use to encrypt messages, and a private key (sometimes known as a secret key), which only one person should be able to use to decrypt the encrypted data. These keys are accessible to individuals, devices, and applications.
This post will inform you what you need to know about PKI as a service, including how it functions, the role of certificate authorities, and the advantages of using this PKI service. Continue reading to learn more.
How Does PKI Service Work?
Public key infrastructure (PKI) is the most prevalent method for managing identity and security inside Internet communications to safeguard individuals, devices, and data through digital certificates. PKI is the preferred mode for authentication and encryption due to its mix of roles, policies, hardware, software, and procedures. The certificates are used to verify the identification of the systems participating in digital communication. They give a safe and encrypted method for determining who you communicate with without the risk of hostile parties intercepting communications.
Organizations rely on managed PKI solutions to authenticate and encrypt data across web servers, digital identities, linked devices, and apps. As enterprises depend on the Internet for critical business tasks and operations, establishing secure communications is essential to maintaining business continuity and proactive risk management.
Public key cryptography is the foundational technology that allows PKI to use two distinct but interrelated encryption and decryption keys. The resultant key pair, consisting of a public key used to encrypt a message and a private key to decode it, is also known as asymmetric cryptography. The public key pair employs cryptographic techniques to ensure that only the intended receiver, the secret key holder, may decrypt encrypted messages. This is essential for safeguarding virtual private networks (VPNs) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices when at least one side of the connection is mainly automated.
Is PKI An AAA?
No. AAA is a framework for intelligently restricting access to computer resources, enforcing regulations, auditing usage, and delivering the information required to bill for services. These linked operations are deemed indispensable and are considered essential for good network administration and security,
The only one of the three A’s that relates to PKI is authentication. AAA specifies that only identifying oneself is insufficient; you must also record what you are authorized to do and whatever you perform. PKI does not provide authentication and logging services for its users. The PKI must be augmented with a policy-based AAA server for comprehensive access control to achieve this objective.
PKI As-a-Service (PKIaaS)
Infrastructural components, including PKI, are being moved to the cloud by many businesses. Cost savings and substantial scalability make this an intriguing possibility. With PKI, however, it is crucial to protect the root offline, administer the Root CA, and issue CAs independently online for certificate requests and issuance.
In the cloud, PKIaaS provides a highly secure and scalable managed PKI with end-to-end certificate lifecycle management and automation. It enables enterprises to decouple key management from on-premise infrastructure without sacrificing root security. By building this infrastructure in the cloud, enterprises may access the provisioning services of their preferred CA anytime.
While top cloud technology companies, such as AWS PKI and Microsoft Azure PKI, provide PKIaaS, these solutions only enable platform-specific certificates. Many enterprises install many types of public and private certificates from numerous CAs. These enterprises want a system that can automate the administration of their certifications.
Advantages of PKIaaS
In addition to its various use cases, PKIaaS offers other advantages. Among the primary advantages of cloud-based certificate administration and automation of certificate services are:
Reduced costs
With PKIaaS, businesses have no infrastructure to establish and maintain, resulting in cheaper total expenses. The large hardware expenditures, root key generation, backup and failover software, audit charges, and expensive pay of specialized professionals required to manage an on-premise PKI infrastructure are eliminated by cloud-based PKIaaS. In addition, many businesses profit from stable, predictable pricing and can effectively estimate operational expenses in the absence of large capital expenditures.
Improved security
Even on-premise security infrastructures previously deemed impenetrable are more vulnerable in today’s threat environment. Recent high-profile on-premise breaches, such as those involving Solarwinds and on-premise Microsoft Exchange servers, have compromised the security of on-premise PKI. PKIaaS delivers best-in-class cloud protection for organizational readiness and cyber resilience with better security and advanced management of hardware security modules for hardware availability and disaster recovery.
Better visibility
PKIaaS enables you to locate and monitor the status of all issued certificates at any moment through a single interface. Enterprises can identify all certificates placed in their environment and expiration dates, allowing them to avoid or eliminate service outages caused by expired certificates. This service functions as a single source of truth, removing the burden of various key management interfaces across multiple cloud providers.
Automation
Enterprises can automate the issuing, installing, and renewing of digital certificates for public and private CAs. PKIaaS offers workflow automation templates corresponding to many automation standards, including SCEP and EST.
Scalability
With PKIaaS, certificates may be issued automatically, making it simple to assure security for any number of certificates, whether hundreds, thousands, or millions. They may be automatically refreshed and replaced, enhancing the user experience, and minimizing downtime. Additionally, cancelling PKI certificates en masse is simple, halting access when required.
