It should come as no surprise that virtually every organization\u2019s security, to some extent, relies on PKI. After all, it\u2019s the foundational technology and framework that internet security is built upon. But creating this proposed maturity model brings to mind a question every organization should ask: How mature is my PKI implementation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s hash it out.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<\/span><\/span>\n\n\n Public key infrastructure (PKI) is about having the right people, policies, and technologies in place to secure your organization\u2019s data and create digital trust<\/a> via cryptographic security and digital identity<\/a>. Achieving a mature PKI involves carefully assessing and evaluating your existing PKI capabilities, security posture, processes, tools, and performance to identify areas for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Consortium\u2019s proposed framework assesses PKI maturity by reviewing your PKI implementation and breaking it down into four modules<\/a> comprising 15 total categories<\/a>. Each category is evaluated from the perspective of one of five maturity levels<\/a>; these levels are calculated to generate an overall average across all of the PKI categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, there\u2019s more to it than that, but we aren\u2019t going to get into the nitty-gritty details. (Click on the links above to learn more about the specifics of the PKI Consortium\u2019s proposed PKI maturity model.) Instead, we\u2019ll focus on some questions you can ask to evaluate the maturity of your organization\u2019s PKI implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your PKI Engineer can scream about PKI-related concerns until they\u2019re blue in the face. But if they\u2019re the only person saying it, and those concerns aren\u2019t recognized or shared by the company\u2019s executives or board members, then nothing is likely to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strong PKI security is supported and promoted from the very top. Without robust, leadership-driven security and compliance initiatives, you\u2019ll likely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re unsure how to talk to your boss or other leaders about PKI (or cybersecurity in general)<\/a>, we\u2019ve put together a list of things to keep in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The certificate life cycle encompasses everything from how your certificate is created to its expiration and eventual destruction (and everything in between). An essential element of this process is visibility. This means knowing vital information relating to each certificate and the cryptographic key pairs associated with it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a mature private PKI, you\u2019ll have already evaluated how best to optimize your organization\u2019s life cycle management capabilities to increase its security, performance, and efficiency. But if you\u2019re a large enterprise that\u2019s still using Excel spreadsheets to manually manage and track the hundreds of thousands of digital certificates<\/a> that exist within your IT environment, it may indicate that your PKI maturity is in the early stages of development and needs work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some resources for cryptographic key management that you might find helpful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Access to your PKI should be carefully managed and protected. Only some people need or should have access to your cryptographic resources. As such, access should be given only to those who need it to carry out specific functions. Furthermore, access to all sensitive systems and data should be based on authorized and validated digital identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without these digital safeguards, virtually anyone can pretend to be your employees or other authorized users to access your critical system and data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about how to secure access to your PKI and IT infrastructure, check out these resources: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Carefully evaluate your key management technologies, processes, and resources to determine how they align with industry standards and best practices. Use this information to identify areas for potential improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you storing your private keys on servers that have public-facing elements? Are you securely storing them on compliant hardware or in cloud-based key vaults? Are you using a CA hierarchy so your root keys can be stored offline? The difference between these approaches is like night and day; how organizations choose to answer these questions speaks to the range of PKI maturity levels that organizations span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some resources on key management best practices that you might find helpful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The president at one of the higher education institutions where I worked used to have a saying that stuck with me: No matter what your role, it\u2019s your responsibility to help students get to class in the best condition for learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same concept applies to organizations and their employees. You have a responsibility \u2014 to your customers, employees, board members, and other stakeholders \u2014 to ensure your team is trained, equipped, and otherwise prepared to keep your PKI secure, effective, and operational. Some ways to help prepare them to do their best include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what are some signs that your organization ranks among PKI mature organizations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n PKI maturity isn\u2019t something that any organization can achieve in a day. It\u2019s an investment of effort, time, and resources that will take a while to build but will pay off in the long run. The more secure and mature your PKI is now, the better prepared you\u2019ll be to deal with future threats and minimize the risks and costs associated with them. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have other pertinent questions you think should be added to the list to better gauge an organization’s PKI maturity? Be sure to share them in the comments below.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/span><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are several key elements that make up mature public key infrastructure implementations. We\u2019ll explore 5 questions you can ask to ascertain how mature your organization\u2019s PKI is. The PKI…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":17253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[228,13253,13251,13252],"class_list":["post-17252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hashing-out-cyber-security","tag-pki","tag-pki-maturity","tag-pki-maturity-model","tag-pkimm","post-with-tags"],"views":6200,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pki-maturity-model-feature.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}5 Questions to Ask Yourself to Evaluate Your Organization\u2019s PKI Maturity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Where Do PKI Security and Compliance Rank Among Your Organizational Priorities?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pki-maturity-security-priorities-1024x640.jpg\")
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2. How Do You Track and Manage the Certificate Lifecycle (And Is It Enough)?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. What Are You Doing to Lock Down Access to the Company\u2019s PKI Systems?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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4. How Secure Are Your Cryptographic Keys?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/secure-keys-pki-maturity-1024x640.jpg\")
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5. Are Employees Equipped to Securely Manage the Organization\u2019s PKI?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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10 Signs You Have a Mature Public Key Infrastructure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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