Corporate News Report
CyberArk Software Ltd. Publishes Findings on Legacy PKI Challenges
CyberArk Software Ltd. has released a comprehensive research briefing that exposes the growing operational and security risks associated with legacy public key infrastructure (PKI) systems and manual certificate management practices. The study, derived from a survey of nearly 2,000 IT and security professionals across a broad spectrum of industries, highlights persistent service disruptions and an uptick in security incidents directly linked to outdated PKI configurations.
Key Findings
- Service Disruptions and Security Incidents
- The survey reports that a majority of respondents have experienced at least one significant service outage attributable to certificate renewal failures or expired credentials.
- Security incidents involving certificate misuse or compromise rose by an estimated 15 % over the past 12 months, underscoring the inadequacy of manual management workflows in high‑volume environments.
- Surge in Machine and Workload Identities
- The shift toward cloud‑native architectures and zero‑trust security models has accelerated the proliferation of machine and workload identities.
- Consequently, the volume and complexity of certificates have expanded dramatically, making it increasingly difficult for legacy PKI systems to keep pace without substantial manual intervention.
- Operational and Compliance Costs
- Enterprises continuing to depend on legacy PKI setups report higher operational costs due to frequent outages, increased labor for manual renewal, and the need for specialized compliance checks.
- Compliance uncertainty is amplified by the lack of automated audit trails and policy enforcement inherent in older PKI implementations.
- Scalability Constraints
- Legacy PKI infrastructures lack the elasticity required to accommodate rapid scaling of digital identities, leading to bottlenecks in authentication services and a higher risk of single points of failure.
Implications for Corporate Governance
The findings emphasize the necessity for organizations to adopt modernized certificate management solutions that align with current digital identity demands. Key strategic actions include:
- Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management: Deploying systems that automatically provision, renew, and retire certificates to reduce human error and enhance reliability.
- Integration with Zero‑Trust Frameworks: Ensuring that certificate management processes are tightly coupled with identity‑centric security policies to support dynamic access controls.
- Scalable Infrastructure: Leveraging cloud‑native services that can elastically grow alongside an organization’s identity footprint without compromising performance or security.
Cross‑Sector Relevance
While the study focuses on PKI, the challenges identified resonate across multiple sectors:
- Financial Services: Banks and fintech firms, where regulatory compliance and transaction integrity are paramount, face heightened risks if certificate management is subpar.
- Healthcare: Protecting patient data under HIPAA and other privacy mandates demands robust, automated identity verification mechanisms.
- Manufacturing and IoT: The explosion of connected devices increases the number of machine identities, reinforcing the urgency for scalable certificate solutions.
Conclusion
CyberArk’s research underscores a pivotal moment for enterprises worldwide: the transition from legacy PKI systems to modern, automated certificate management is not merely a technical upgrade but a strategic imperative that safeguards operational continuity, compliance, and security. Organizations that act proactively to modernize their PKI infrastructure will be better positioned to navigate the complex landscape of cloud‑native, zero‑trust environments and to mitigate the escalating risks posed by an expanding digital identity ecosystem.
