50 Smartest Companies of the Year 2020

Simplify Enterprise PKI with Automated Certificate and Key Lifecycle Management from AppViewX


Modern enterprise datacenters are a collection of multi-vendor components that run on a combination of public, private and hybrid cloud infrastructures, and a blend of brownfield and greenfield (virtualized, microservices, IoT, and/or open) application deployments. As our digital world demands faster, better and cheaper deployments, those who leverage automation, orchestration, visual workflows and self-servicing are better positioned to succeed – with lower costs, improved availability and superior security.

In today’s enterprise, almost every system is connected to the internet or to another system, and they all rely on digital certificates to keep communications secure. To maximize application and network reliability, NetOps and SecOpsteams need to have efficient and consistent processes for managing security certificate and encryption key infrastructure. Rather than relying on spreadsheets and manual steps to request, acquire, renew and end-of-life certificates, enterprises need an automated solution to manage the entire certificate lifecycle.

A solid key and certificate automation strategy, which aligns with the Center of Crypto Excellence maturity model, is a must-have for every enterprise and the only way to gain visibility and control over complex security infrastructure. Without it, certificate-related outages become almost inevitable, causing revenue losses and frustrating customers and employees.

AppViewX is a services orchestration and automation platform (SOAP) that provided end-to-end certificate and key lifecycle management capabilities. It helps simplify, centralize and streamline all digital certificate and cryptographic key tasks: from discovery and inventory, to renewals, revocations, installations, monitoring, and much more.

By providing simplified and consistent visibility into and control over PKI, administrators can ensure that they are not caught off guard by expired or mismanaged certificates, and can quickly remediate any potential vulnerability, such as deprecated algorithms. This is the crux of AppViewX’s security services: centralizing x.509 certificate and key lifecycle management and infusing it with an automation engine that can be configured to automate almost any workflow, with any network components, such as HSMs, firewalls, and other cybersecurity or encryption software solutions.

Centralized and Scalable Low-Code Automation

Certificate and encryption key management methods generally fall into one of three camps: One, manual processes that involve people and spreadsheets or homegrown tools that do basic discovery and monitoring. Two, basic certificate management tools offered as part of bundled product by CAs, to manage certificates issued by them. Three, dedicated certificate and key management and lifecycle automation tools. Naturally, the teams who use manual methods suffer from visibility and scalability issues, having to sift through multiple sources to locate expired certificates and repeating manual steps every time a certificate needs to be issued, maintained, or renewed. The main issue with using CA-issued solutions is the fact that these methods are decentralized – if a team uses five CAs for issuing certificates, they would have to work with five different systems to perform any certificate-related maintenance tasks. And while a number of vendors offer generic certificate and key lifecycle management tools, most of them don’t have end-to-end automation capabilities, don’t integrate with 3rd party software, and don’t have low-code capabilities to facilitate self-service by application teams. AppViewX provides simple automation solutions that do not require users to white code to manage certificate-related tasks. That’s open, centralized, scalable and accessible automation – the main principles behind AppViewX.

Addressing Cyber Threats and Data Breaches

When the Equifax systems were breached, the financial giant admitted to failing on several fronts – neglecting to patch a known vulnerability, designing networks that were not properly separated from one another, allowing attackers to move laterally, and failing to renew an encryption certificate on one of their tools, causing millions of sensitive customer records to fall into hackers’ hands. A seemingly simple oversight has enabled attackers to syphon encrypted data from the network for weeks, if not months, undetected.

AppViewX helps enterprises secure their first line of defense by helping IT administrators remove the possibility of manual errors from certificate management activities. By automating and rapidly accelerating tasks such as renewals, IT teams help ensure that critical systems never become compromised because of PKI issues. In addition to renewal automation, AppViewX provides constant visibility into the validity of all certificates on the network using reports and easy-to-read dashboards.

The “IT” factor

To keep their applications secure, available, and reliable at all times, enterprises need to consider taking steps to reevaluate their certificate landscape and management practices: formalizing their trust structure, resolving vulnerabilities, and putting in place mechanisms for automated, business process-centric and context-aware certificate lifecycle automation. A seemingly small improvement in certificate management practices can help free up IT resources, speed up problem diagnosis and resolution times, and even prevent a catastrophic data breach from causing damage to your reputation and bottom line.

AppViewX has several unique capabilities, all centered around low-code automation. The AppViewX platform offers a workflow building module, which uses a visual, drag-and-drop design that can weave together multiple certificate tasks, across platforms, service providers, and network devices. The result is a comprehensive workflow that requires no human intervention. So far, no other product offers extensive automation capabilities along with full-cycle certificate and key management capabilities. AppViewX offers enterprises the freedom to opt for either an on-premise model or a cloud-hosted solution, depending on their policies, preferences, and desired outcomes.

Meet the leader behind AppViewX success

As a Chief Executive Officer at AppViewX, Gregory Webb is focused on spearheading the growth of a fast-growing technology startup through innovative products, superior customer service, and deep understanding of problems that keep CIOs and CISOs up at night. Gregory brings nearly two decades of information technology and security experience, and is a regular contributor to leading IT and business publications and a frequent speaker at key industry forums. Gregory holds a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and is a Fulbright scholar at Stockholm University.
