Futureproof security requires an innovative approach to machine identity management
With more than 30 patents, Venafi is no stranger to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). But it was only recently that USPTO took a deeper look at Venafi’s approach to innovation and chose to implement the company’s flagship solution for modern machine identity management. The government agency now uses Venafi’s TLS Protect solution to automate the entire lifecycle of digital certificates and other machine identities to meet cybersecurity requirements.
Why was this move particularly topical? An alarming rise in ransomware and other cybercriminal activities has raised the attention of security professionals at the highest levels. As a result, the White House released its National Cybersecurity Strategy to better defend the nation against increasingly malicious cyber threats. With machine identities like digital certificates and cryptographic keys being increasingly targeted by cybercriminals, the importance of protecting them has come into sharper focus.
The increased urgency of protecting machine identities is highlighted by Jeff Hudson, Chief Executive Officer at Venafi, “Amid federal directives and guidance related to hardening public sector cybersecurity posture, security has never been more important for this industry. Identity is the foundation of security, and with the growth in both variance and volume of machines, effective management of the identities of these machines is critical for security.
For example, the critical nature of machine identities is particularly visible in securing modern applications, where machine identities protect the information that flows from machine to machine—much like usernames and passwords protect human identities. Compromised machine identities can have a significant security impact on organizations, and effective machine identity management is critical to preventing security incidents and application outages.
And this is certainly the case at USPTO. Chief Information Officer Jamie Holcombe sums up the importance of modern machine identity management, “Implementing Venafi into our software infrastructure enables us to better manage and secure all the machine identities across our organization and fulfill one of the five pillars of the National Cybersecurity Strategy.”
Innovation is key to that effort. According to Holcombe, innovation is a critical factor in securing this forward-thinking government agency, which receives more than 600,000 patent and trademark applications annually. He notes, “To keep up with the innovation that comes through our doors every day, we bake technical innovation into everything we do—from machine learning and AI to machine identity management—to improve the efficiency, performance and security of our operations.”
But this was not always the case. The USPTO’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) team historically managed the certificate process manually, which was time-consuming and required many steps. It also created potential pitfalls and barriers throughout the process. Automating machine identity management reduces the complexity of controlling a rapidly growing universe of machine identities.
Venafi’s platform allows the team to automate the entire machine identity management process across more than 10,000 machines, streamlining digital certificate issuance—including better certificate organization and customized alerting—and reducing the risk of private key theft through shorter key lifespans. Since implementing Venafi, the USPTO has significantly cut down the certificate process time from 10 hours to 30 minutes.
“Today, organizations not only need to be vigilant when it comes to security, but they must also take proactive measures to protect themselves and their customers. With Venafi, the leader and inventor of machine identity management, the USPTO is making strides in innovation while ensuring bad actors aren’t taking advantage of machine identities,” comments Hudson.
Jamie Holcombe will be speaking at Venafi’s Machine Identity Management Summit September 18-19, 2023 in Las Vegas and virtually. To learn more and register for the event, visit https://www.mimsummit2023.com/.
To learn more about Venafi’s solutions for the public sector, click here.
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