5 Reason to Use PKI As A Service

Companies thirst for reliable and effective lifecycle management of their certificates. Manual execution of certificates is challenging. But digital certificates enable firms to build robust security systems. One way to build such a security system is to use PKI as a service. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is vital. This service increases your network’s security. It allows you to protect all the Internet of Things.

PKI services guarantee you information integrity. You can use them to enhance data confidentiality. PKI also enables data access control and authentication. You need PKI to communicate between IOT platforms and devices securely. There are more reasons you should use PKI as a service.

1. Improved Trust

PKI as a service is a strategy for integrating PKI into your business. The Public Key Infrastructure manages security. It streamlines internet communications. Consequently, it protects devices, people, and data. After identifying these elements, PKI as a service moves the verification to the cloud.

PKI as a service improves trust. It gives users an infrastructural system to protect their data. Thanks to PKI, device and user identities can remain intact. Data integrity is a guarantee. Authenticity is also assured with PKI. Using PKI as a service, you can give your clients digital certificates to authenticate their user identities. They’ll use the certificate to authenticate their devices. The certificates are also convenient to use. Users can use their digital certificates on private web pages. They can use them on public websites. Users can also use VPNs, Wi-Fi, and Wiki without compromising security.

You see, PKI helps with identity verification. After identifying a user, you can ensure that the people who access specific networks and systems are authentic. Identity verification helps prevent malice. It bars unintended actors from interfering with digital networks and systems. Clients can thus trust organizations.

2. IoT Dominance

According to Statistica, the number of IoT devices globally will double from 2020 to 2030. In 2020, there were 15.1 billion devices. Gurus forecast that by 2030 there will be over  29 billion IoT devices. The forecast says that China 2030 will have at least 8 billion devices. With this growth, security issues are bound to increase. Malicious people can back IoT devices. By embracing PKI as a service, you can be better prepared to optimize IoT growth and dominance. Unlike the previous authentication systems, which used bolt-on strategies, PKI gives you more security against cyber criminals.

First, PKI ensures non-repudiation. Meaning the sender of data cannot disown any information they’ve sent later. Users, therefore, own their electronic documents. The confidentiality that comes with PKI is also a benefit in the IoT growth era. PKI systems transmit data over different networks without allowing unauthorized parties to access the data. Through message hashing, PKI ensures data has a lot of integrity. PKI has all the capabilities you need to integrate technology from start to finish in your IoT.

3. Symmetric & Asymmetric Encryption

PKI uses asymmetric and symmetric encryption. Symmetric keys encrypt and decrypt data. It is fast as it uses the same key for encryption and decryption. Asymmetric keys work in a key pair. One key is for public encryption. The other key is for decrypting a private key. The asymmetric key works mathematically; hence it is slower than the symmetric key. By using both techniques, PKI ensures key distribution is legitimate and safe. Remember, these keys help with user identification. 

You can only decrypt data encrypted with a public key using a corresponding private key. The private key stays with the system user. Your security provider will store the key on your computer's hard disc. Or they could store it in a smart card token. PKI's use of these two technologies helps it overcome slow performance. It helps PKI services eliminate all the risks associated with key distribution. With PKI, you only use the symmetric key when sending a message.

4. Reduced Costs

Using PKI as a service, you can lower your costs of setting up security infrastructure. PKI stores its data in the cloud. It makes data storage more streamlined and cheaper. Cloud-based PKIs reduce your cost ownership. They eliminate your need for root key generation. They eliminate the costs that come with failover software. With PKI storing your data in the cloud, you can forget about backup software costs. You do not need to audit your expenses.

High salaries have also become the past. You don't need experts to maintain on-premise PKI infrastructure. PKI also has predictable price systems. You can thus work on a budget that you can manage with less strain. Your overall operating costs reduce with PKI. On-premise security features also add a security cost that you forget with PKI. 

5. Increased Automation

Businesses are increasingly automating their operations and processes. PKI can enhance their security. Using PKI, businesses can manage the life cycles of their certificates more effectively. Businesses will need PKI to keep their sensitive data safe. As businesses automate processes, PKI will help eliminate human errors. Human errors increase the risk of data breaches. PKI eliminates non-compliance, which comes with having outdated certificates in security systems. The reason companies are automating processes is to increase their operational efficiency. 

By helping companies manage their digital identities cheaply, PKI improves operations. Automation is also meant to enhance business continuity. PKI exists to make this a reality. Manual certificate management raises the risk of improper deployment of new certificates. It also results in certificate expiry. PKI brings in automated endpoint machine discoveries. It automates certificate renewal. With PKI, a firm can automate its certificate re-issuance. It can automate certificate renewals. System outages then become history.

Conclusion

In the era of automation and the growth of the IoT, you have every reason to use PKI as a service. You need a robust platform for your machine identity management. PKI is the management system you need to automate the life cycles of your certificates. Based on your organizational needs, you can adopt the REST API integration. Confirm that your certificate regulatory agency supports API integrations. You can easily integrate API into your PKI by developing your scripts or using existing tools. SCEP, EST, and ACME are other options you can embrace to enjoy PKI as a service.

References

https://securityboulevard.com/2022/03/top-6-reasons-organizations-are-looking-for-a-managed-private-pki-service/ https://www.globalsign.com/en/blog/pki-solutions-and-5-reasons-partners-should-consider-them https://www.keyfactor.com/blog/why-the-internet-of-things-needs-pki/

https://www.giac.org/paper/gsec/2171/idiots-guide-public-key-infrastructure/103692