Every certificate you can't see can lead to future outages, failed audits, or an open door for attackers. Quantum computing makes it a deadline.
Over 70% of companies do not know how many digital certificates they have. Ask yourself:
Do you know your real inventory of certificates and keys, including those on machines, APIs, and OT devices?
Do you know what it costs you to manage them today?
Have expired certificates or weak cryptography caused outages or audit findings?
If quantum-capable attackers arrived tomorrow, which of your encrypted data would already be exposed?
Why certificates are under attack
Certificates and keys prove who and what you can trust on your network. Attackers target them because a stolen key can silently unlock many systems.
Risk | What happens | Business impact |
Expired or forgotten certificates | Services fail when a certificate lapse goes unnoticed | Outages, lost revenue, failed audits |
Stolen private keys | Attackers impersonate your sites or sign malware as you | Fraud, data theft, brand damage |
Weak or deprecated crypto | Old algorithms and protocols are easier to break | Compliance failures, easy interception |
Shadow and rogue certificates | Unknown or self-issued certificates bypass policy | Blind spots attackers exploit |
Shrinking lifetimes | Public TLS certificates drop to 200 days (Mar 2026), 100 days (Mar 2027), and 47 days (Mar 2029) | Manual renewal becomes impossible |
Harvest now, decrypt later.
Attackers are already copying encrypted traffic and data today. Once a powerful enough quantum computer exists, today's RSA and ECC encryption can be broken, and that data read. Anything that must stay secret for years, such as customer records, health data, intellectual property, and contracts, is exposed now, not in the future.
The new rules: NIST post-quantum standards
NIST finalized its first quantum-safe standards in August 2024 and expects organizations to start moving now.
Standard | Algorithm | Replaces | Used for |
FIPS 203 | ML-KEM | RSA/ECDH key exchange | Encrypting data in transit (TLS, VPN) |
FIPS 204 | ML-DSA | RSA/ECDSA signatures | Certificates, code signing, identity |
FIPS 205 | SLH-DSA | RSA/ECDSA signatures | Backup signature scheme, long-lived roots |
HQC (selected Mar 2025) | HQC | - | Backup to ML-KEM; final standard expected 2027 |
The clock: NIST's draft transition guidance (IR 8547) deprecates RSA and ECC by 2030 and disallows them by 2035. The EU asks member states to start by the end of 2026 and protect high-risk systems by the end of 2030.
Crypto-agility is the real goal. It means swapping algorithms, keys, and certificates quickly, through policy and automation, without rewriting applications. Standards will keep changing: HQC is already joining the list, and certificate lifetimes are shrinking. Organizations that can change cryptography in days, not years, will meet each deadline as it comes. That starts with knowing every certificate you have and controlling them from one place.
Zensar CertSecure: from blind spot to quantum-ready
Start with a no-cost Digital Certificate Discovery Assessment (normally $9,500), then build a crypto-agile PKI run as a managed service (PKIaaS).
Step | What you get | Outcome |
1. Discover (no cost) | Certificate counts across cloud and non-cloud estates, plus a business case with current cost and potential savings | You know your real inventory |
2. Analyze | Full inventory: compliant vs non-compliant, deprecated protocols, ports, weak crypto, lifespan, expiry, internal vs external, quantum-vulnerable algorithms | A prioritized risk and PQC readiness map |
3. Implement | Certificate lifecycle management (CLM) rules to issue, renew, and revoke for internal and external CAs, with REST API integration | One policy for every certificate |
4. Manage | Single dashboard of every certificate chain, key access, and usage, run by Zensar as PKIaaS | Full visibility without new headcount |
5. Automate | Auto-renewal plus CLM alerts sent to ITSM and the Zensar SOC as tickets, in real time | No expiry outages; ready for 47-day certificates |
6. Go quantum-safe | Crypto-agile PKI, hybrid classical + PQC certificate pilots (ML-KEM, ML-DSA), phased migration | Meet NIST 2030/2035 deadlines on your timeline |
What changes for you: fewer outages, clean audits, lower certificate management cost, and protection today against harvest-now, decrypt-later attacks.
Take the first step
Book your no-cost Digital Certificate Discovery Assessment. In a short engagement, the Zensar CertSecure team will show you how many certificates you have, where they are, what they cost you, and which are exposed to quantum risk.