London, UK: GlobalSign, the enterprise SaaS Certificate Authority (CA) has announced availability of the GlobalSign Auto Enrollment Gateway (AEG). AEG integrates with Windows Active Directory (AD), allowing enterprises to automate the enrolment, provisioning and management of GlobalSign Digital Certificates for Windows environments. By replacing their internal CAs with GlobalSign’s proven services, enterprises strengthen security and reduce costs by adding certificate-based solutions such as two-factor authentication and advanced SSL without having to manage their own highly complex and costly internal CA. Because GlobalSign SaaS Certificate Services provide the latest best practices and highest standards in certificate technology, enterprises using them reduce their risk of falling victim to attacks that take advantage of weak and mismanaged certificates. Eliminating the need to manage a resource-intensive internal CA reduces the total cost of ownership of the public key infrastructure (PKI), as well as the risk of system outages that stall business activities.
As noted in research published by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company, certificates have been increasingly targeted by attackers, who are successfully exploiting known vulnerabilities such as untrusted self-signed certificates, certificates configured for weak encryption and unwieldy certificate revocation mechanisms. In addition, attackers have successfully pulled off more sophisticated exploits such as fraudulently issuing certificates from trusted third-party authorities and forging certificates that are relied upon for code-signing.
“Most enterprises are not proactively managing the risks associated with these attacks and are unprepared to respond quickly to a compromise,” said Derek E. Brink, vice president and research fellow for IT Security at Aberdeen Group. “By allowing enterprises to place the operational aspects of managing certificates into the hands of experts, while retaining enterprise control over group policies managed in Active Directory, GlobalSign is aiming to accommodate future growth in the use of certificates while addressing the practical issues of security and trust in an efficient, cost-effective deployment model.”
The GlobalSign AEG provides multiple security and cost-savings benefits as well as enhanced risk mitigation. Seamless integration with Microsoft AD allows enterprises to automate PKI management as well as certificate provisioning and deployment across Windows-based networks, a capability that strengthens PKIs, establishes internal and external trusted communications, and reduces costs.
“PKI is under attack, and Digital Certificates have become a common threat vector employed by cybercriminals. However, that doesn’t change the fact that when deployed, managed and used effectively, Digital Certificates provide the most proven means of defense for enterprise networks,” said Lila Kee, GlobalSign Chief Product and Marketing Officer. “The AEG allows organisations not only to eliminate costly management burdens but also to get full value and maximum security out of their AD investments.”