Microsoft Certificate Lifecycle Management

The IT environment is changing

The rapid digital transformation of businesses has led to increasingly complex and heterogeneous IT environments. Distributed workforces, hybrid and multi-cloud setups, and solutions from a broad range of vendors have become the new norm. In this landscape, open and interoperable solutions are crucial for enterprise IT leaders. Companies face challenges when relying solely on Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS). With our direct integration into Microsoft Certificate Authority (MSCA), Sectigo Certificate Manager (SCM) delivers a modern approach to issuing and managing any digital certificate across your business, all from a single platform.

Challenges with AD CS

While AD CS has historically been a reliable solution, it does present some challenges for today's enterprises:

High maintenance: Managing certificates using AD CS is a manual process for non-Windows entities that heavily relies on on-premise infrastructure, lacking cloud-native capabilities which limits organizational agility.
Interoperability issues: While AD CS integrates well within the Microsoft ecosystem and operating systems, it often lacks integrations with commonly used enterprise technologies outside this environment.
Time-consuming: The manual process of managing digital certificates using AD CS can be time-consuming and error-prone, making it a burden for IT administrators who often have to configure complex setups that include user access and certificate policies.
Complexity: Deploying and managing Microsoft CA requires specialized public key infrastructure (PKI) knowledge and a dedicated staff, making it challenging for some organizations to implement. IT Teams must carefully manage both existing and new certificates while ensuring adherence to security protocols and cryptography best practices.
Total cost of ownership (TCO): Though Microsoft CA is theoretically free, there are hidden costs for hardware, expert teams, and annual maintenance, which can quickly add up.

Sectigo Certificate Manager offers two paths to augmentation

Sectigo Certificate Manager (SCM) offers a comprehensive solution for organizations looking to enhance their AD CS capabilities and streamline certificate lifecycle management. SCM addresses the challenges of manual management, lack of interoperability, and the high TCO associated with traditional AD CS.

Sectigo offers two paths for organizations to fulfill their Microsoft certificate management needs:

Augment certificate management capabilities of AD CS
SCM seamlessly integrates with AD CS, automating the entire lifecycle of digital certificates for Microsoft applications, while also extending its functionality to non-Microsoft applications.
Replace AD CS and scale with a cloud-based Sectigo Private CA
Sectigo offers a natively agnostic and cloud-based CA that scales effortlessly with the organization's needs, providing a more flexible and versatile solution. You will continue to use Windows’ auto-enrollment capabilities while leveraging SCM’s automation and management features to complete tasks more efficiently.

Benefits of AD CS augmentation

Continuous discovery and management of all digital certificates from Microsoft and other public and private CAs, allowing enterprises to manage SSL/TLS certificates, signing certificates, and more, from one platform.

Comprehensive visibility into all certificates, including those used for identification, authentication and authorization in AD CS

Enhanced capabilities added to existing investment in AD CS

Superior automation for certificate installation, deployment, renewal, and revocation

Certificate deployment to secure non-Windows use cases

Consistent certificate policies across the enterprise, improving overall security and compliance capabilities

Related Resources

Whitepaper

Moving beyond Microsoft AD CS

Jan 17, 2024

Businesses face lack of visibility and automation by relying solely on Microsoft's Active Directory Certificate Services for PKI management.

The Evolution of Certificate Management: Augmenting AD CS

Sep 12, 2023

Data security is paramount, and we know the management of digital certificates plays a crucial role in ensuring secure communication and data integrity.