There's a lot of talk within the cybersecurity industry about shortening TLS/SSL certificate lifespans, most recently from Apple, which proposed reducing the maximum lifespan from 398 days to just 45 by 2027.

The goal of shortening certificate lifespans is to promote automation, and Apple isn’t the only one pushing for it—Google proposed a 90-day certificate validity period in early 2023, and DigiCert is in full support. 

But while shorter lifespans play a crucial role in reducing vulnerabilities, the debate over specific renewal intervals is the wrong conversation to focus on. The real priority needs to be on streamlining and automating certificate management—a move your organization can’t afford to delay.

Why shorter certificate lifespans matter

Shorter certificate lifespans can improve security by ensuring that encryption keys are rotated more frequently. This limits the exposure of compromised certificates and minimizes the risk of long-term vulnerabilities. By reducing the time attackers have to exploit a compromised certificate, shorter lifespans enhance overall trust in secure communications.

Apple’s recent proposal to reduce certificate lifespans to just 45 days builds on these principles, following the industry’s gradual progression toward shorter validity periods. But shorter lifespans aren’t without their challenges. For organizations still relying on manual certificate management, the increased frequency of renewals can lead to:

• Higher operational overhead: Managing certificates with shorter lifespans means IT teams have to handle renewals more often, increasing the time and resources required for manual processes.
• Increased risk of expired certificates: Frequent renewals raise the chances of missed deadlines, which can result in certificate expirations. Expirations can then cause website outages, disrupted services, and a loss of customer trust.
• Complexity across diverse systems: Many organizations manage certificates across hybrid environments, including on-premises servers, cloud platforms, IoT devices, and edge networks. With shorter lifespans, maintaining visibility and control over all certificates becomes even more challenging.
• Compliance and security pressure: Expired certificates don’t just lead to operational disruptions—they also result in regulatory compliance failures, compounding the risks for industries with stringent security requirements.

For organizations without an automated certificate management solution, these challenges can quickly overwhelm IT teams, creating bottlenecks and increasing the likelihood of security lapses.

The case for certificate automation

Focusing on certificate lifespans without addressing management tools risks solving one problem while creating others. Short-lived certificates only work effectively when paired with comprehensive automation systems that streamline the renewal process and eliminate the risk of human error.

With automation, you can ensure your TLS/SSL certificates are renewed on time, every time, reducing the administrative burden on IT teams and preventing unexpected outages caused by expired certificates. Automation also enables centralized certificate management, giving organizations full visibility and control over their digital assets.

Here’s a breakdown of the reasons every organization should be prioritizing automated certificate management:

• Minimized risk of expired certificates: Automation ensures certificates are renewed before expiration, eliminating the risk of service outages and security vulnerabilities.
• Reduced administrative overhead: By automating routine tasks, IT teams can focus on strategic priorities instead of juggling time-consuming manual renewals.
• Scalability for growing networks: Automation simplifies managing certificates across complex infrastructures, including IoT devices, cloud services, and multi-domain environments.
• Proactive security: Automated systems detect and address issues in real-time, reducing the potential impact of vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

In short, organizations that adopt automated certificate management today will be better prepared for future changes to TLS/SSL certificate policies like Apple’s proposed 45-day validity period.

Future-proofing your organization with DigiCert

For enterprises, managing digital trust is about more than just meeting compliance timelines—it’s about building a foundation of security that scales with organizational growth and complexity.

DigiCert is dedicated to digital trust innovation that goes beyond temporary compliance trends. We prioritize solutions like DigiCert Trust Lifecycle Manager that help organizations manage their certificates efficiently and securely, focusing on practical implementations that address real-world needs.

The transition to shorter-lived certificates shouldn’t be seen as a burden but as an opportunity to embrace automation and simplify certificate management. Automated certificate lifecycle management can mitigate human error, reduce costs, and free up IT resources, enabling teams to focus on more strategic security initiatives. And any organization that implements automated systems for certificate management now will position themselves ahead of the curve, ensuring they’re prepared for future changes in certificate policies and standards—no matter how short the lifespans get.

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