How to renew SSL certificates & how to automate the process

Renew SSL certifications: Steps for manual and automated renewals

Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates are essential for secure data exchange between website servers and browsers. They enable the implementation of cryptographic protocols as the foundation of secure online transactions and communications, supporting every industry, from eCommerce and healthcare to finance and government.

Organizations must re-verify their identity periodically and renew their certificates before expiration to avoid outages and service disruptions. This post explores what SSL/TLS certificate renewal entails and why you should consider automating the procedure.

Understanding the SSL/TLS certificate renewal process

SSL/TLS certificate renewal creates a new certificate with a different validity period to prevent service outages or disruptions caused by expired certificates. Browsers often display warning messages when they encounter an invalid certificate, causing visitors to lose trust in the brand's reputation and navigate from the site. This results in a poor user experience and lost sales.

Besides SSL/TLS certificates, other digital certificates also require renewal. These include Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) certificates that secure email communication and code signing certificates that ensure the authenticity and integrity of software.

SSL/TLS certificate renewal is critical for maintaining website security and protecting your organization's reputation. It prevents service outages, error messages, and warning prompts that can delay business processes and erode customer confidence. Also, valid digital certificates are essential for meeting various regulatory requirements and compliance standards.

How to manually renew an SSL/TLS certificate: A step-by-step guide

The validity periods for digital certificates vary depending on the accepting organizations. For example, Google has expressed intention to reduce the validity for public SSL/ TLS certificates to  90 days. As such, companies must stay on top of their SSL/TLS certificate renewal to avoid issues caused by expired certificates.

Here are the steps for renewing your SSL/TLS certificate manually:

• Step 1: Check the expiry dates of all digital certificates, and set reminders for their renewal. Ensure your team understands the importance and urgency of renewing expiring certificates.

• Step 2: Generate a new Certificate Signing Request (CSR) via your server's administration interface. The unique, encrypted text block in the CSR contains your site's details and contact information that a Certificate Authority (CA) requires to issue a new certificate.

• Step 3: Select your SSL/TLS certificate type. Consider extended validation SSL (EV SSL), organization validation SSL (OV SSL), domain validation SSL (DV SSL), wildcard SSL, and multi-domain SSL based on your needs.

• Step 4: Submit your CSR to the CA, which will verify your information and issue a new digital certificate. 

• Step 5: Complete the steps required by your CA for validation. Typically, these involve email verification or Domain Name System (DNS) record updates to verify your identity and ownership of the website.

• Step 6: Download the new certificate from your CA once the validation process is complete. Follow the server software's instructions to install it on your server. Check that all pages on your website show "https" and a padlock in the browser address bar to confirm successful installation.

How long does the SSL/TLS certificate renewal process take?

SSL/TLS certificate renewal may take a few minutes to a few days, depending on the CA's procedures, the certificate type, and the complexity of the validation process. It's crucial to know when your certificates expire, set reminders, and start the process in advance to avoid service disruptions, maintain user trust, and comply with regulations.

Timely renewal helps you minimize the risks of security vulnerabilities, which may expose sensitive data to interceptions and compromise the confidentiality and integrity of user information. It also prevents warning messages that can deter customers from purchasing from your brand while ensuring search engines don't penalize your website by lowering its ranking on search results pages.

However, the manual renewal process is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and error-prone. Mistakes during CSR generation, information submission, and verification can cause delays. A missed reminder and deadline can lead to expiration and potential outages. Plus, bottlenecks may occur if you don't have a streamlined and efficient process.

So how do you avoid revenue loss, reputational damage, customer dissatisfaction, negative impact on customer acquisition and retention, and legal consequences associated with certificate outages and expirations? Proactively automating the certificate management and renewal process is essential for enterprises managing hundreds, if not thousands, of certificates to avoid delays and issues.

How to automate SSL/TLS certificate renewal

Automatic SSL certificate renewal involves setting up a system to handle the renewal process without manual intervention. It uses tools or services to generate new CSRs, submit them to CAs, complete the validation process, and install the renewed certificate on the server.

SSL/TLS certificate renewal automation helps you avoid the risks of expired certificates and maintains continuous security for online transactions and data transfer. It eliminates human errors and oversight while ensuring a consistent and reliable approach to certificate management across different environments. 

Automation saves time, enhances productivity, and improves cost efficiency, especially when managing complex infrastructures. This frees IT resources to focus on strategic initiatives. You can also configure the system to adhere to industry regulations and ensure ongoing compliance with company policies and data privacy laws.

How to set up automated certificate renewal with Sectigo Certificate Manager (SCM)

Sectigo Certificate Manager is a cloud-based platform that gives enterprises complete visibility over all the digital certificates in their environments. It provides the support and capabilities you need to automate certificate lifecycle management, reduce risks caused by expired certificates, and control the costs of these processes.

SCM can automate certificate discovery, provisioning, revocation, replacement, renewal, and governance. It discovers SSL/TLS certificates from any CA by scanning the entire enterprise network and querying CA management platforms like Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS). It also scans your networks for expired and rogue certificates that can cause outages, service disruptions, or vulnerabilities. 

Additionally, SCM integrates with the rest of the Sectigo ecosystem to ensure seamless renewal processes. For example, it can retrieve and install SSL/TLS certificates issued by the Sectigo public or private CA. This secures every digital communication and authenticate every human and machine identity across the enterprise infrastructure without human intervention.

SCM's Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME) is the preferred automation protocol for public certificate issuance and management. It helps organizations manage shorter certificate lifespans effectively while improving resilience and agility as they transition to quantum-resistant algorithms. Moreover, SCM is a CA-agnostic platform that allows you to consolidate certificate lifecycle management tasks in one place for added cost efficiency.

Renew and automate certificate management with Sectigo

If you manage your digital certificates manually, make sure to set reminders and notifications so the appropriate IT team members can initiate the renewal process on time to avoid outages. Consolidate the process by purchasing your certificates from a trusted CA that offers various certificates to meet all your needs, such as SSL/TLS, code signing, and S/MIME.

However, manual renewal will likely fall short as your infrastructure scales and validity periods shorten. Although 90-day certificates aren’t yet mandated, the time to adopt and deploy a CLM is now. Automation offers a streamlined, error-free, and cost-effective way to manage all your digital certificates. Sectigo Certificate Manager supports a reliable and consistent process for automating digital certificate lifecycle management. Learn more about SCM and start your free trial to experience the power of certificate management automation.

Want to learn more? Get in touch to book a demo of Sectigo Certificate Manager!