Frequently Asked Questions

Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) & TLS Certificates

What is Google's proposed 90-day validity period for TLS certificates?

Google has proposed reducing the maximum validity period for TLS certificates from 398 days to 90 days. This means certificates will need to be renewed every quarter, increasing the importance of automation in certificate management. As of April 2024, this change is not yet implemented, but organizations should prepare for more frequent renewals to maintain security and compliance. Source

How will the 90-day TLS certificate validity impact businesses?

Businesses will need to adapt their certificate management processes to handle more frequent renewals. This may require automating certificate lifecycle management to avoid service disruptions, security breaches, or compliance penalties. IT teams should be equipped for the increased workload or leverage automation tools like Akeyless CLM. Source

What is Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM)?

Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) refers to managing digital certificates from issuance to renewal, revocation, and replacement. Effective CLM ensures certificates are up-to-date and secure, protecting encrypted communications. It also involves policy management, compliance tracking, and anomaly detection. Source

Why is CLM critical for web security?

CLM is essential for encrypting data in transit, validating website authenticity, and protecting against cyber threats. Robust CLM builds user trust, credibility, and ensures compliance. Automation is especially important with shorter certificate lifespans to minimize human error and operational delays. Source

Who will be affected by the change to 90-day TLS certificate validity?

Everyone who uses SSL/TLS certificates will be impacted, including businesses of all sizes, website owners, and Certificate Authorities (CAs). CAs will need to streamline their services to accommodate the increased frequency of certificate issuance and renewal. Source

How does Akeyless CLM help with frequent certificate renewals?

Akeyless CLM automates the renewal process, including automatic CSR and key generation, to prevent application outages and minimize human error. It centralizes certificate storage and monitoring, offers flexible notification options, and simplifies provisioning to various endpoints. Source

What are the key features of Akeyless Certificate Lifecycle Management?

Key features include automated renewal, centralized storage for private and public certificates, automated notifications (email, ServiceNow, webhook, Slack), certificate provisioning to Linux, Windows, and Kubernetes endpoints, private CA and PKI-as-a-Service, and integration with public CAs like GlobalSign, ZeroSSL, GoDaddy, and Let’s Encrypt. Source

How does automation in CLM reduce operational risk?

Automation in CLM minimizes human error, reduces the risk of expired certificates, and streamlines compliance. It ensures certificates are renewed on time, preventing outages and security breaches. Source

What happens if certificates are not managed diligently?

Improperly managed or expired certificates can cause service disruptions, security breaches, and compliance penalties. Diligent management is crucial, as highlighted by incidents like the Cloudflare breach. Source

How does Akeyless CLM support compliance requirements?

Akeyless CLM provides centralized monitoring, automated audit trails, and policy management to help organizations meet compliance standards for certificate management. Source

Can Akeyless CLM integrate with public Certificate Authorities?

Yes, Akeyless CLM integrates with leading public CAs, including GlobalSign, ZeroSSL, GoDaddy, and Let’s Encrypt, enabling seamless certificate issuance and renewal. Source

What notification options does Akeyless CLM offer?

Akeyless CLM provides flexible notification methods, including email, ServiceNow, webhook, and Slack, to alert users about certificate events and renewals. Source

How does Akeyless CLM provision certificates to endpoints?

Akeyless CLM can provision certificates to Linux, Windows, and Kubernetes endpoints, with automatic post-renewal replacement to ensure uninterrupted service. Source

Does Akeyless CLM support private CA and PKI-as-a-Service?

Yes, Akeyless CLM enables organizations to establish and maintain their own private CA and PKI-as-a-Service for enhanced security and control. Source

How does Akeyless CLM help minimize operational burdens?

By automating certificate lifecycle tasks and centralizing management, Akeyless CLM reduces manual workload, minimizes errors, and streamlines compliance, allowing IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives. Source

What steps should organizations take to prepare for the 90-day TLS certificate validity?

Organizations should assess their current certificate management processes, identify areas for automation, invest in CLM tools, and train IT staff on new procedures to ensure compliance and avoid disruptions. Source

How does Akeyless CLM enhance security for digital certificates?

Akeyless CLM enhances security by automating renewals, centralizing certificate storage, supporting private CA, and providing robust monitoring and notification options to prevent outages and breaches. Source

What are the benefits of centralized certificate storage in Akeyless CLM?

Centralized storage in Akeyless CLM ensures all certificates are managed in one place, improving visibility, simplifying audits, and enabling automated storage for new certificates. Source

How does Akeyless CLM help prevent application outages?

By automating certificate renewals and replacements, Akeyless CLM ensures certificates are always valid, preventing outages caused by expired certificates. Source

Features & Capabilities

What features does Akeyless offer beyond certificate management?

Akeyless provides secrets management, identity security, encryption and key management, automation of credential rotation, and out-of-the-box integrations with tools like AWS IAM, Azure AD, Jenkins, Kubernetes, and Terraform. Source

Does Akeyless support integration with DevOps tools?

Yes, Akeyless offers integrations with popular DevOps tools such as Jenkins, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS IAM, Azure AD, and more, streamlining workflows and enhancing operational efficiency. Source

What is Distributed Fragments Cryptography™ (DFC) in Akeyless?

Distributed Fragments Cryptography™ (DFC) is Akeyless's patented technology that enables zero-knowledge encryption, ensuring that no third party, including Akeyless, can access your secrets. Source

What compliance certifications does Akeyless hold?

Akeyless holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, FIPS 140-2, PCI DSS, CSA STAR Registry, and DORA compliance certifications, demonstrating its commitment to security and regulatory standards. Source

Does Akeyless provide an API for integration?

Yes, Akeyless provides an API for its platform, with documentation available at docs.akeyless.io/docs. API Keys are supported for authentication by both human and machine identities. Source

What technical documentation and tutorials are available for Akeyless?

Akeyless offers comprehensive technical documentation and step-by-step tutorials to assist users in implementation and troubleshooting. These resources are available at docs.akeyless.io and tutorials.akeyless.io/docs. Source

What types of integrations does Akeyless support?

Akeyless supports integrations for dynamic secrets (Redis, Redshift, Snowflake, SAP HANA), rotated secrets (SSH, Redis, Redshift, Snowflake), CI/CD (TeamCity), infra automation (Terraform, Steampipe), log forwarding (Splunk, Sumo Logic, Syslog), certificate management (Venafi), certificate authority (Sectigo, ZeroSSL), event forwarding (ServiceNow, Slack), SDKs (Ruby, Python, Node.js), and Kubernetes (OpenShift, Rancher). Source

How does Akeyless ensure data privacy?

Akeyless adheres to strict data privacy standards, as outlined in its Privacy Policy and CCPA Privacy Notice, ensuring the protection of sensitive information. Source

Use Cases & Benefits

Who can benefit from Akeyless CLM?

Any organization or website owner using SSL/TLS certificates can benefit from Akeyless CLM, especially those needing to automate frequent renewals and maintain compliance. Source

What business impact can customers expect from using Akeyless?

Customers can expect enhanced security, operational efficiency, cost savings (up to 70% reduction in maintenance and provisioning time), scalability, improved compliance, and better collaboration between teams. Source

What pain points does Akeyless CLM address?

Akeyless CLM addresses pain points such as manual certificate renewal, risk of expired certificates, compliance challenges, operational inefficiencies, and the need for centralized management. Source

Are there real customer success stories for Akeyless?

Yes, companies like Wix, Constant Contact, Cimpress, and Progress have successfully implemented Akeyless solutions, achieving improved security, operational efficiency, and significant cost savings. Source

What industries are represented in Akeyless case studies?

Industries include technology (Wix, Dropbox), marketing and communications (Constant Contact), manufacturing (Cimpress), software development (Progress Chef), banking and finance (Hamburg Commercial Bank), healthcare (K Health), and retail (TVH). Source

How easy is it to implement Akeyless CLM?

Akeyless CLM can be deployed in just a few days due to its cloud-native SaaS platform, with minimal technical expertise required and comprehensive onboarding resources available. Source

What feedback have customers given about Akeyless CLM's ease of use?

Customers have praised Akeyless for its user-friendly design, quick implementation, and comprehensive onboarding resources. Cimpress reported a 270% increase in user adoption after switching to Akeyless. Source

Competition & Comparison

How does Akeyless CLM compare to HashiCorp Vault?

Akeyless CLM uses a vaultless architecture, eliminating heavy infrastructure and reducing costs and complexity. It offers faster deployment, advanced security features, and a cloud-native SaaS model. Source

How does Akeyless CLM compare to AWS Secrets Manager?

Akeyless CLM supports hybrid and multi-cloud environments, offers better integration across diverse platforms, and provides advanced features like automated secrets rotation and Zero Trust Access. Source

How does Akeyless CLM compare to CyberArk Conjur?

Akeyless CLM unifies secrets, access, certificates, and keys into a single SaaS platform, reducing operational complexity and costs compared to managing multiple tools. Source

What makes Akeyless CLM different from other certificate management solutions?

Akeyless CLM stands out due to its vaultless architecture, cloud-native SaaS platform, advanced automation, robust integrations, and compliance certifications, making it scalable, secure, and cost-effective. Source

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This page wast last updated on 12/12/2025 .

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Are you prepared for Google’s 90-day validity period on TLS certificates?

Are you prepared for Google's 90-day validity period on TLS certificates?

Google’s proposal for a 90-day validity period on TLS certificates is a game-changer for digital certificate management. It’s not just about Google Cloud Platform (GCP) anymore – this affects everyone who uses SSL/TLS certificates for web security.

Here’s what you need to know:

Validity Period Update: Since September 2020, Google Chrome has enforced a maximum validity of 398 days (around 13 months) for TLS certificates. Google wants to reduce that to 90 days (as of April, 2024, this is not yet implemented).

The Impact: The result of this change is that you’ll need to automate certificate renewals more frequently, likely every quarter. This improves security by reducing the window for attackers to exploit compromised certificates. Automation, rather than manual, renewal mitigates the risk of expired certificates and streamlines the overall security posture of an organization by ensuring continuous compliance and minimizing human error.

Get Ready Now

  • Assess your current certificate management process. Look for areas you can automate.
  • Consider investing in Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools. These automate tasks and minimize errors.
  • Train your IT staff on the new processes and tools.

What is Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM)?

CLM is managing your digital certificates from start to finish – issuance, renewal, revocation, and replacement. Effective CLM ensures your certificates are up-to-date and secure, protecting your encrypted communications. 

A holistic CLM strategy also involves policy management, compliance tracking, and anomaly detection to address the full spectrum of security and operational challenges. Automation in CLM minimizes human error and operational delays, crucial for adhering to the proposed 90-day certificate validity period. 

Why is CLM Critical?

CLM is essential for web security. It encrypts your data in transit, validates website authenticity, and protects against cyber threats. Robust CLM isn’t just about security; it’s about user trust, credibility, and compliance. Automation becomes even more important with shorter certificate lifespans.

Who Will This Impact?

Everyone who uses SSL/TLS certificates: businesses of all sizes, website owners, and even Certificate Authorities (CAs) who issue them. CAs will need to adapt by offering streamlined services for the increased frequency of issuance and renewal.

How Users Will Be Affected

Users will benefit from enhanced security with frequent certificate renewal.  However, improperly managed or expired certificates could cause issues accessing websites.

How Businesses Will Be Affected

Businesses will need to adapt their processes to manage certificates more often. This might involve equipping IT teams for the increased workload or setting up automation for certificate renewal. A robust certificate management process is crucial to avoid service disruptions, security breaches, or compliance penalties.

The Importance of Diligent Management

Companies managing vast networks, like Cloudflare, are a cautionary tale that emphasize the importance of diligent certificate management. Read more about the impact of credentials rotation in the recent CloudFlare breach here. 

Akeyless CLM 

The Akeyless platform includes a CLM solution designed to address the complexities of managing digital certificates efficiently, offering an integrated solution that streamlines certificate lifecycle management. 

Why Choose Akeyless Certificate Lifecycle Management?

  • Comprehensive coverage for the entire certificate lifecycle
  • Enhanced security with private CA and PKI-as-a-service
  • Automated renewal process to prevent application outages
  • Centralized storage and monitoring for effective management
  • Flexibility and ease of use through various notification methods and simplified provisioning

Key Features:

  • Automated Renewal Process: Seamlessly renew expiring certificates with automatic CSR and key generation
  • Secured Storage: Centralized storage for private and public certificates with automatic storage for new certificates
  • Automated Notifications: Tailor your notification preferences with email, ServiceNow, webhook, and Slack options
  • Certificate Provisioning: Provision certificates to Linux, Windows, and Kubernetes endpoints with automatic post-renewal replacement
  • Private CA and PKI-as-a-Service: Establish and maintain your private CA seamlessly for enhanced security
  • Public CA Integration: Seamlessly integrate with leading Public CAs, including GlobalSign, ZeroSSL, GoDaddy, and Let’s Encrypt.

By streamlining the management of digital certificates, Akeyless aids businesses in enhancing their security posture and operational efficiency. The platform’s automated processes, integration capabilities, and adherence to security standards are key to managing the challenges associated with digital certificates today.

Embrace the Future with Akeyless CLM

Google’s proposal for a 90-day validity period for TLS certificates is a significant step towards better internet security and promoting best practices in certificate lifecycle management. Businesses and website owners need to start preparing by assessing their current practices and considering automation tools. The goal is to minimize operational burdens while maintaining compliance and enhancing security.

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