Technological advancements are good for everyone but also present a significant threat. Flying under the radar is a threat that cost the world nearly eight trillion dollars in 2023 alone, and this figure is expected to rise. The proliferation of AI tools and technologies seems to empower attackers with abilities they wouldn’t necessarily have.
Still, the need for secure digital communications exists, and it’s growing as the stakes increase. Find out how PKI services are filling the void and becoming a core element in ensuring secure digital communications.
Understanding PKI Services and How They Work
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a utility that provides a way for communicating parties to prove their ownership of private keys via digital certificates, without which secure encrypted communications wouldn’t be possible. PKI as a service is more than a stack of technologies, though.
In addition to the technology, PKI involves policies and procedures to ensure seamless and secure communication. To accomplish this, as seen above, PKI services rely on four major things: public key cryptography, certification authorities, web of trust, and digital certificates. Here’s a quick overview of the four and how they work:
1. Public Key Cryptography
At a time when legal orders can compel service providers to turn over encryption keys, it’s necessary to have a means by which service providers can guarantee their client’s privacy and users can be confident no one else can access their data.
PKI services utilize asymmetric encryption to achieve this. In asymmetric encryption, the public key is shared freely, and the holder (person or system) can only use it to encrypt data. On the other hand, private keys are kept secure by each communicating party, and they’re the only means to decrypt the data.
2. Digital Certificates
Digital certificates are how entities can prove who they claim to be to other parties they communicate with. Whereas digital certificates prove the authenticity of a party’s identity, individual entities can’t generate them on their own. Instead, other trusted third-party organizations issue digital certificates and guarantee their authenticity.
3. Certification Authorities
There are two standard practices in the matter of issuance of digital certificates. Digital certificates can be issued via a web of trust or through a certification authority. With certification authorities, the idea is the two communicating parties or entities do not know each other as much, hence the need for a neutral third party to intervene and broker the trust.
Certification authorities’ issues and help to manage digital certificates. Entities and organizations can also work with a central certification authority, and this has the benefit of ensuring strict adherence to industry standards and accepted practices. On the other hand, this can also result in a single point of failure.
4. Web of Trust
When two or more individuals or organizations know and trust each other, a web of trust mechanisms for issuing digital certificates is more appropriate. Therefore, with a web of trust system, two or more individuals can say they can trust so and so and any certificate they trust.
The best thing about a web of trust is that each party stands to lose should they compromise the system. Still, it’s not entirely impossible. On the downside, digital certificate issuance and management can be tricky with a web of trust as it’s not centralized.
Benefits of PKI Services
Here are some of the benefits of using PKI services:
- Transfers risk. As a business, subscribing to a PKI service means delegating your communications’ security to an otherwise competent entity. Any risk of failure or compromise falls squarely on the PKI service provider.
- Scalability. With a PKI service, organizations, individuals, and entities can easily optimize digital certificate issuance and management based on their needs without committing extra resources.
- Enhanced security. Given the nature of their business, PKI service providers are arguably masters of their craft, and working with them guarantees better chances at security than going at it alone.
Key Aspects to Consider When Choosing the Right PKI Service Provider
Working with the right PKI service provider can benefit you in many ways. So, how do you pick the right one from the crowd? Here’s a quick overview of the critical considerations you need to factor in when choosing the right PKI service provider.
1. Type of PKI
PKI services vary a lot, and each type or variation best suits a different application. First, identify your needs as an organization and the parties or entities you’ll be communicating with. Next, identify the PKI service provider that best addresses your organization’s or personal needs and concerns.
2. Cost
At the end of the day, it’s the bottom line that matters. As you pick a PKI service, ensure its cost makes sense to your business, and you can determine this through a thorough cost-benefit analysis.
Despite the temptation, don’t be swayed by too good to be true/ incredibly cheap offers. While some vendors offer great PKI services at affordable cost, in most cases, cheap PKI services may mean some sort of compromise with security, public key cryptography, support, or certificate issuance and management.
3. Level of Trust and Security Measures
Trust and security are the name of the game with PKI services. All PKI services strive to offer both, but some do it better than others. You can determine what security measures a PKI service provider has put in place by looking at the technology and measures they claim to have.
However, confirming their claims is better by referring to independent reviews or asking for recommendations from friends and family. A simple online check for any allegations posted against the PKI service’s supposedly compromised systems can also do the trick.
4. Support
PKI services can be highly technical, and they can frustrate many people. The right PKI service provider should be able to provide adequate support during the service’s configuration, management, and maintenance.
The best option would be to have a dedicated customer support desk. You can check this through their website, reviews, or even ask directly through the service provider’s representatives.
Final Thoughts
Cybersecurity threats are becoming more sophisticated and complicated to counter as technology advances. Ever keen to exploit all possible avenues that may be vulnerable to exploitation, attackers are not relenting even with PKI services.
Advancements in semiconductor technology and the possibilities that come with them are one such concern for PKI services. Asymmetric encryption is the gold standard for safe and secure communication, but this may be subject to change as the reality of widespread use of quantum computing dawns.
To this end, security researchers are trying their best to develop quantum-resistant cryptography that will address such shortfalls with PKI services.