Your certificate management tool
Your company's and your customers' data are valuable. Users demand data security and transparency. Lapses in data security are very costly in terms of both money and your company's reputation. It is therefore of paramount importance to protect data and data streams. Digital certificates guarantee the requisite informational security and thereby ensure confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity for your company. However, the large number of security certificates needed plus the resources required to manage them pose very large challenges, especially to IT departments.
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Certificates: Levers to reduce process costs
Whenever information is exchanged via the internet or internal company networks, digital certificates play an important role. But certificates also have to be managed professionally.
Certificate management tools support you in this task. Automated tools even relieve your employees of various procedures, so that valuable working time is freed up for other tasks. There is also no need to build up profound knowledge on the subject of certificate management. This means that individual steps can be taken over decentrally as needed in self-service. This relieves the IT security department. Finally, it prevents the unplanned expiry of certificates and the associated system failures or even standstills of production processes, etc. All of this saves additional costs.
essendi xc features
essendi xc offers centralized features that make it even easier to manage your certificates.
Infrastructure
As a platform, essendi xc integrates easily into existing infrastructure and connects to available systems. essendi xc comes with connectivity for the HSMs (hardware security modules) of common manufacturers, to meet the strict security needs of your key material. Importing made easy: you can use the network scan function to find all available certificates in your company automatically and import them into the certificate repository. For complex data centre infrastructures, custom scanning functions are available. essendi xc is installed locally on your system. This gives you total control over your key material and certificates. essendi xc offers smart solutions for distributing certificates to local and (remote) target systems: we support ACME, email, SCP, SSH, SCEP and PowerShell remoting and distribution using our xc agents. essendi xc gives you an overview of all your certificates. It features multi-CA functionality and supports all X.509 certificate types. One tool. All certificates. Simply smart.
Processes
essendi xc is a comprehensive management system for all X.509 certificate types (CKMS). This way, your IT department gains an overview of all SSL and TLS certificates used throughout the company and can apply prompt changes as needed.
Monitoring
essendi xc supports risk management with monitoring and reporting. The centralized dashboard offers you a clear overview of your certificates at all times. The backbone of essendi xc is a company-wide certificate repository, providing transparency and a variety of evaluation and control functions. Importing made easy: you can use the network scan function to find all available certificates in your company automatically and import them into the certificate repository. The repository’s built-in monitoring and alert function means no more worrying about expiring certificates.
Compliance
essendi xc helps your organization handle certificates and keys. You can use templates and policies to ensure compliance with application requirements and house rules. These support your applicants and prevent certificate errors. Role-based access and authorizations ensure that users can only view and edit certificates for which they are authorized. Connectivity for your centralized user directory (LDAP/AD) enables easy integration of available users and authorization structures into the system. Your sales associate and the support team will be happy to advise you in English or German.
Renew and manage certificates
essendi xc serves as a centralized process hub that manages the complete life cycle of your certificates. The system lets you apply for your digital certificates, distribute them to target systems and renew them. A self-service portal can be used to simplify and decentralize these processes. essendi xc automatically informs you of expiring certificates, or even renews them for you automatically.
Digital Certificates:
Compliance & audit
Compliance in certificate management serves to protect the transmitted information. Cryptographic keys and certificates must meet many requirements. The framework for this is provided, for example, by ISO/IEC 27001, BSI Grundschutz (Basic Protection Standard issued by the German Federal Office for Information Security) or NIST. Your CPS (Certification Practice Statement) defines the corresponding corporate compliance requirements. The CA/Browser Forum, ETSI or ZertES also define requirements that have an impact on corporate processes.
essendi xc is compliance-compliant. Its application forms make corporate compliance very simple: according to defined authorisations, groups apply for their certificates at specific CAs.
In addition, essendi xc creates a concept for the application of keys, documents their life cycle and the procedures used. In the event of an audit, you can provide audit-proof evidence of your procedure at any time.
Certificate management 4.0
Certificates are expiring faster and faster, even as their system environments grow increasingly complex. Unplanned certificate expiries can disrupt operations, create legal issues and permanently harm your company’s image. To meet these challenges, we have developed the essendi xc certificate manager and its components. essendi xc simplifies, automates and optimizes certificate management, while allowing you to manage all digital certificates in your whole company.
Certificate management 4.0
essendi xc as a PKI tool
A PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) is used to confirm digital identities and to encrypt data. essendi xc increases the security of your systems in combination with an optimally set up PKI. You can build it yourself and use the Microsoft Public Key Infrastructure, for example. The connection to a MPKI (Managed Public Key Infrastructure) of a service provider like SwissSign is also possible.
As a certificate management tool, essendi xc can automatically reapply, renew and revoke digital certificates via the PKI. Depending on the settings, it even installs the certificates in the target systems. Manual control of the PKI is no longer necessary.
Custom solutions
Our certificate platform essendi xc can be tailored precisely to your needs, including custom solutions for management of digital identities in the context of IoT and Industry 4.0. We use agile development methods to design the optimal solution for you. We develop our software based on your needs, taking into account trends and market demands, as well as your specific requirements profile. Our team of experts ensures transparency and keeps you up-to-date at all times. To ensure the performance of your software throughout its entire life cycle, we offer maintenance and support services and flexible training packages.
Ready for tomorrow's technologies
Newly developed technologies and the rising role of the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) in connection with digitalization will further increase the importance of data security and the need for practical solutions. Smart certificate management will prepare you for this field and make you ready for tomorrow's technologies.
Advice and budget
Do you have a specific IT requirement and need advice and a cost analysis for your project plan? If so, we will be happy to help you plan and budget your project. The price of essendi xc depends on the number of certificates managed and the modules and satellite systems used. We would be pleased to give you a detailed insight into our product family. You can order custom modifications and expansion projects. Finally, our service portfolio would not be complete without a flexible consulting and training package.
Whitepaper
Information on the point: our whitepapers give you an overview of our services, possible applications and make complex processes transparent. Download your free PDF file here.
Whitepapers
essendi it
This is information technology: essendi it offers IT consulting, professional software testing, custom software development and IT security solutions – all under one roof. Our 50 employees offer highly specialized knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration from our offices in Schwäbisch Hall and Munich. This way, we can always find the best solution for your needs. This is our highest aspiration, as customer orientation, innovation and satisfaction are values that determine our attitude and entrepreneurial actions.
ESSENDI IT ESSENDI VALUESPotential for more: partnerships
We firmly believe that we’re at our best when we can concentrate on our core competencies. That’s why we view partnerships as a sensible and logical expansion of our portfolio.
Are you interested in a business partnership or in integrating your solution with essendi xc? If so, please contact us.
News / Magazine
Magazin: Interview PQC with Prof. Dr. Hänggi – Part 1
News: 90-days certificates: automation reduces the load
News: Research project on PQC with HSLU
Magazine: What is a Managed PKI?
News: essendi it joins UNGC
Magazine: The Zero Trust Security Framework
News: essendi it at Black Hat MEA in Riyadh
News: Installing our photovoltaic system
News: After it-sa is before it-sa
News: Our presentation about the future of digital certificates during it-sa
News: Our presentation on Post-Quantum-Readiness during it-sa
News: essendi it is Axis Technology Integration Partner
News: it-sa 2023 we will be there!
Magazine: Danger from quantum computing
News: essendi it AG launches website
Magazine: ChatGPT and AI systems
News: New xc release 1.24 published
News: Google wants shorter validity periods for SSL/TLS certificates
News: Done: DIN ISO 27001 Certification
News: essendi it and GlobalSign start technology cooperation
Magazine: Why is IT compliance important?
Magazine: What is IT compliance?
News: Why do companies need an IT security architecture?
News: itsa 2022 - here we go!
FAQ
A significant benefit of essendi xc is that it allows the certificate processes to be automated. Depending on the defined degree of automation, the certificate handling can be performed completely via essendi xc (full automation). In addition, scenarios with partial automation are possible.
In certain cases, manual interventions and executions are necessary and useful. In these cases, essendi xc supports applicants and administrators and guides them intuitively through the process.
No matter how you want to organise your certificate management: essendi xc supports you and facilitates the application and distribution of certificates. This saves valuable time for other tasks.
The validity periods of digital certificates are becoming shorter and shorter, i.e., they have to be renewed. Thus, the administration efforts for (re)issuing certificates are increasing. The coordination and optimisation of these processes is a component of certificate management.
In addition, digital certificates are often subject to a company-wide Certificate Policy Statement (CPS) with set requirements for the keys and key sizes to be used. Ensuring that these requirements are met is also part of certificate management.
With increasing digitalisation, the purposes and numbers of digital certificates are also rising. Keeping track of which certificates are used where, that certificates are not issued twice, which certification authorities (internal and / or external) may be used according to in-house specifications and contracts, and which manufacturer certificates / third-party certificates are available in one's own network, is another component of certificate management.
Another facet can be the central orchestration of the various components and systems involved in issuing and distributing digital certificates: internal PKIs as well as external CAs, existing hardware security modules and key vaults are only a few examples.