Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) are a critical element of every organization’s cybersecurity. But many organizations find that legacy PKIs, like Microsoft’s Active Directory Certificate Service (ADCS), are antiquated and difficult for PKI teams to manage. Granted, building a private PKI on Microsoft ADCS may have worked well in the past. But as complexity has increased over time, you may now find yourself unable to keep up with the steady stream of patches, updates, hot fixes and vulnerability fixes. These challenges can impact the efficiency and effectiveness of your security infrastructure.
These limitations of legacy PKI are a key factor in considering how the complexity of your new PKI may negatively impact availability, scalability, and cost. In that light, it may be a good time to consider a more secure, productive and cost-effective alternative that does not rely on brittle, outdated systems that demand constant care and immediate updates. Today’s on-demand economy requires a modern, scalable, no hassle cloud-based solution that is designed from the ground up to optimize the advantages of best practices in security and availability.
Challenges of Microsoft ADCS
PKI has always been hard. It’s a complex system that demands a level of expertise that is difficult to find and retain, especially as the number of machine identities that organizations need to remain secure skyrockets. But recently, several emerging challenges have transformed what has been a challenging task into an almost impossible one. Let’s detail some of the most common issues you’re likely encountering with ADCS.
- Lack of features. ADCS, while robust in many ways, often falls short in feature richness compared to modern PKI solutions. Basic functionalities might be present, but advanced features such as enhanced certificate management and automated workflows are typically missing.
- Limited integration. One of the key limitations of ADCS is its restricted integration capabilities. While it works seamlessly within the Microsoft ecosystem, integrating ADCS with non-Microsoft environments or third-party applications can be cumbersome and complex.
- Minimal automation. In an era where automation drives efficiency and reduces human error, ADCS's minimal automation capabilities are a significant drawback. Tasks such as certificate issuance, renewal, and revocation still require considerable manual intervention.
- Not futureproof. The technology landscape is evolving rapidly, and PKI solutions need to keep pace. Unfortunately, ADCS is not future-proof, and adapting it to meet emerging security protocols and standards can be challenging.
- Needlessly complex. The complexity of ADCS can be overwhelming. Setting up and configuring ADCS requires deep technical knowledge and expertise, often leading to errors and misconfigurations that compromise security.
- Hard to manage. Managing ADCS involves constant monitoring and maintenance, from patching and updates to security vulnerability assessments. The complexity of these tasks can stretch resources thin.
- Resource constraints. Implementing and maintaining ADCS requires significant resource allocation, both in terms of personnel and hardware. Many organizations struggle with the resource constraints associated with effectively managing ADCS.
- Hidden costs. While ADCS itself might seem cost-effective initially, hidden costs can accumulate over time. These include expenses related to hardware security modules (HSMs), ongoing maintenance, and the need for specialized expertise.
- Convoluted path to availability. Ensuring high availability with ADCS is not straightforward. The convoluted processes involved in achieving redundancy and failover capabilities can lead to increased downtime and potential security risks.
- Costly scalability. Scaling ADCS to meet growing organizational needs is often prohibitively expensive. The additional costs associated with expanding PKI infrastructure can strain budgets.
- Not Secure by Design. Despite its security-oriented purpose, ADCS is not inherently secure by design. Security professionals must implement additional measures to safeguard against vulnerabilities and threats.
Legacy PKI Is Broken: Why Now Is the Time to Transition to PKI-as-a-Service
Modern PKI delivered through the cloud
A modern, cloud-based alternative to traditional Microsoft PKI can provide significant advantages in terms of simplified deployment, scalability, and high availability. By eliminating the need for dedicated on-premises infrastructure and staffing, cloud-based PKI can lead to substantial cost savings compared to a Microsoft PKI implementation. In particular, Venafi’s cloud-based Zero Touch PKI provides a multi-data center architecture that inherently provides high availability and redundancy, ensuring continuous uptime for critical DevOps workflows without additional investments. By adopting a cloud-based PKI, organizations can benefit from a more efficient, secure and cost-effective approach to managing their Public Key Infrastructure needs.
Here are the benefits of a cloud-based PKI:
- Simplified deployment and management. A cloud-based solution eliminates the need for dedicated staff, numerous servers, special hardware and expensive security monitoring. This hands-free approach can result in a lower total cost of ownership and faster time-to-value.
- Scalability and flexibility Worldwide. A cloud-based solution scales with your business needs, like new use cases or spikes in demand for certificates. Zero Touch PKI operates from multiple data centers in North America, Europe and APAC, ensuring high availability and redundancy.
- Enhanced security: The cloud-based Zero Touch PKI is architected for and operated with the modern security capabilities used to operate publicly trusted CAs. Zero Touch PKI includes 24x7 security monitoring and dedicated hardware security module (HSM) operations to protect your private PKI and comply with industry regulations and standards.
- Reduced availability and redundancy: As a cloud-based solution, Zero Touch PKI features multi-data center redundancy and a modern microservice architecture for the highest availability, ensuring continuous operation and minimizing downtime.
- Expert support and monitoring: Unlike a legacy PKI, the cloud-based Zero Touch PKI comes with 24x7 technical support, service and physical security monitoring, ensuring smooth operations and prompt assistance when needed.
- High availability and virtually 100% uptime for DevOps in critical infrastructure: In DevOps environments with high certificate volume and request frequency, ensuring uptime is necessary to support critical infrastructure. Zero Touch PKI’s cloud-based, multi-data center architecture inherently provides continuous uptime and redundancy without additional infrastructure costs. The service has an SLA of 99.9% but has consistently maintained 100% over long periods of time. In contrast, Microsoft PKI requires redundant servers and increased maintenance expenses to achieve the same level of availability and uptime, making Zero Touch PKI a more efficient and cost- effective solution for mission-critical operations.
- Full replacement for Windows PKI: As a cloud-based solution, Zero Touch PKI serves as a holistic replacement for Microsoft Windows PKIs, offering enhanced flexibility and security through its SaaS-based, highly available, cloud-hosted architecture. Key advantages encompass support for SCEP, REST API, ACME, CRL, OCSP, modern key types (RSA, ECDSA), an intuitive web interface/GUI, Auto Enrollment Proxy (AEP), revocation capabilities and compatibility with various MDM solutions, including Intune, Workspace ONE, MaaS360 and MobileIron.
Conclusion
Microsoft ADCS remains a powerful tool for managing PKI within enterprise environments, but it comes with a range of challenges that security professionals must navigate. From feature limitations and complex architecture to endless maintenance and burdensome supportability, ADCS requires significant effort and expertise to manage effectively.
By identifying these challenges and implementing strategic solutions, security professionals can optimize their ADCS infrastructure and enhance their organization's overall security posture. Understanding the intricacies of ADCS and staying informed about best practices will empower you to overcome these challenges and leverage ADCS to its full potential.
If you're looking for a more streamlined and future-proof PKI solution, consider exploring alternatives that offer enhanced features, better integration, and improved automation capabilities. Your journey to a more secure and efficient PKI infrastructure starts with making the right choice—evaluate your options and take proactive steps to address the challenges of Microsoft ADCS today.
Venafi Zero Touch PKI offers a modern, cloud-based alternative to traditional Microsoft PKI, providing significant advantages in terms of simplified deployment, scalability, and high availability. By eliminating the need for dedicated on-premises infrastructure and staffing, Zero Touch PKI can lead to substantial cost savings compared to a Microsoft PKI implementation. Furthermore, Zero Touch PKI’s multi-data center architecture inherently provides high availability and redundancy, ensuring continuous uptime for critical DevOps workflows without additional investments. By adopting Zero Touch PKI, organizations can benefit from a more efficient, secure and cost-effective approach to managing their Public Key Infrastructure needs.