Managing Windows Hello hybrid certificate trust model on DigiCert PKI platform streamlines enterprise passwordless authentication and access, an industry first for public Certification Authorities (CAs)

(LEHI, Utah) – (Dec. 7, 2021) – DigiCert, Inc., the world’s leading provider of TLS/SSL, IoT and other PKI solutions, today unveiled a key advancement in passwordless authentication with industry-first automated workflows and certificate issuance for Windows Hello for Business (WHfB).

The DigiCert® PKI platform now supports certificate-based authentication at scale for WHfB, enabling passwordless authentication on hybrid Azure AD-joined devices for organizations within the same platform where they manage certificates for their other private certificate use cases. WHfB is a passwordless authentication solution from Microsoft to verify sign-in/login, using strong multi-factor authentication on PCs and mobile devices, and biometric or PIN identity credentials.

Passwordless authentication is a growing trend as companies seek to improve security at the point of access, while simplifying the user sign-in experience. This need is becoming more pronounced as companies adopt zero-trust network access security models, which require authentication for each access point. With passwordless authentication, end-users no longer need to create or remember passwords and instead employ more secure methods for verifying identity, such as passwordless logins, PIN identity credentials and biometric authentication.

“As our customers increasingly adopt zero-trust network access security models that require verification of each access request, certificate-based access security with automated workflows is becoming more critical for protecting against attacks,” said Brian Trzupek, Senior Vice President of Product at DigiCert. “DigiCert plays a leading role in enterprise PKI management, supporting more than 30 certificate types in its solutions. As the first publicly trusted CA to support WHfB integration with its managed enterprise PKI platform, DigiCert provides automated workflows and centralized certificate lifecycle management for identity and access verification.”

DigiCert PKI platform's automated support for the WHfB certificate trust model on Azure AD hybrid deployments simplifies identity and access management across large enterprises with hundreds of thousands of workers and connection points. DigiCert support for WHfB:

• Simplifies WHfB certificate administration with pre-configured certificate templates and corresponding enrollment methods.
• Accelerates on-boarding with automated workflows and zero-touch provisioning of client-authenticated certificates required by WHfB to Windows domain-joined workstations and for domain controllers.
• Delivers the convenience of managing WHfB digital certificates with the same platform used for managing other enterprise use-cases.

WHfB certificate-based automation will be available this month on the DigiCert PKI Platform with additional platform support coming in Q1 2022. Find more information here.

About DigiCert, Inc.
DigiCert is the world’s leading provider of TLS/SSL, PKI, and IoT security solutions that enable digital trust for data, devices, code, documents and users. DigiCert is modernizing the way PKI is managed with the DigiCert ONE™ platform. DigiCert ONE reimagines PKI to address all certificate-based security use cases with flexible, scalable and automated workflow managers, including the award-winning TLS certificate manager, CertCentral®. Nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and 98 of the 100 largest global banks choose DigiCert for its digital transformation solutions, including for securing 5G and the post-quantum computing age, and for its five-star customer support. For the latest DigiCert news and updates, visit digicert.com or follow @digicert.