Beyond Certificate Automation: Organizations Face Governance Gaps Ahead of Post‑Quantum Cryptography Shift

What happened

DigiCert presented a 60‑minute webinar that highlighted three emerging challenges: TLS certificate lifetimes are being reduced to 47 days, many organizations lack clear ownership and visibility into machine‑identity certificates, and there is no concrete roadmap for adopting post‑quantum cryptography.

Why it matters for trust and compliance

• Unclear ownership and limited visibility undermine the cryptographic‑control objective that continuous assurance programs track, making it harder to produce defensible audit evidence. Mapping these gaps to a single control area satisfies multiple framework requirements, such as NIST CSF 2.0’s Protect function.
• Documented ownership and visibility provide audit‑ready evidence of cryptographic control compliance.
• Continuous monitoring of certificate lifecycles supports real‑time control assurance and reduces exposure to mis‑configurations.

Who is affected

Recommended actions

1. Map your certificate lifecycle to the cryptographic control objective in your chosen framework.
2. Assign explicit owners for machine‑identity certificates and record the process.
3. Implement continuous monitoring for certificate expiration and usage.
4. Create a phased post‑quantum migration plan and capture evidence in a centralized Trust Center.