cloud technology

The rapid expansion of IoT has created an enormous security challenge, with billions of devices becoming potential entry points for attackers. PKI has emerged as a scalable and cost‑effective way to secure these devices by providing each endpoint with a unique, verifiable identity and enabling encrypted, passwordless authentication. PKI certificates protect data integrity, secure device communication, and support lifecycle management across diverse IoT environments. Because IoT manufacturing often occurs offline, modern PKIaaS solutions streamline certificate issuance through HSM‑based batch loading and support ongoing policy‑driven certificate renewal, monitoring and decommissioning. PKI hierarchies can also be customized for complex supply chains, allowing manufacturers to maintain separate trust anchors for different partners or product lines. As the number of connected devices continues to surge, cloud‑based PKI enables organizations to embed trusted identity into every device while reducing operational burden and ensuring long‑term scalability.

The White House Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity highlights the growing importance of Zero Trust architectures as organizations face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Zero Trust operates on the principle that no user, device or system should be trusted automatically, requiring continuous authentication and verification for every transaction. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a foundational technology for implementing Zero Trust because it provides trusted digital identities, certificate-based authentication, machine-to-machine encryption and passwordless access capabilities. As enterprises expand their use of Zero Trust, the number of digital certificates required to secure users, devices and systems continues to grow, creating operational and management challenges. Many organizations struggle with the complexity of issuing, managing and renewing large volumes of certificates, as well as a shortage of PKI expertise. Cloud-based PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS) addresses these challenges by outsourcing certificate lifecycle management while maintaining visibility and control. Hybrid PKIaaS architectures that combine cloud-based administration with highly secure storage of root keys provide scalable, resilient and trusted infrastructure for supporting modern Zero Trust security strategies.

As Zero Trust adoption accelerates and device fleets grow, enterprises now manage tens of thousands of digital certificates—each with a defined lifetime that must be renewed to maintain security. Manual certificate management is no longer feasible. Microsoft Autoenrollment, built into Active Directory, automates certificate enrollment, issuance, revocation and renewal across domain‑joined users, devices and applications. It simplifies PKI operations but still requires a Certificate Authority capable of securely issuing and updating certificates at scale. HID PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS) extends Autoenrollment capabilities into the cloud through its Autoenrollment Proxy (AEP), which connects Active Directory to HID’s cloud CA. This enables organizations to automate certificate lifecycle management across hybrid environments without deploying agents or reconfiguring individual devices. HID’s connector‑based automation model leverages standardized protocols and existing tooling, making PKI rollout simpler, scalable and aligned with Zero Trust requirements. With native automation, organizations can reduce manual workloads, avoid certificate‑related outages and modernize PKI without rebuilding infrastructure.

Enterprises are accelerating PKI automation as expanding cloud adoption, IoT growth, remote work and rapid environment creation increase the number of devices and applications requiring certificates. Manual certificate processes cannot keep pace with shortening certificate lifespans and rising operational risk, making automation essential for maintaining Zero Trust security. Automated certificate provisioning and validation enable continuous authentication of every user and device, supporting passwordless models and reducing outages caused by expired certificates. Among automation approaches, the connector model provides a platform‑ and vendor‑agnostic solution by leveraging open-source utilities and existing enterprise tools to deploy and manage certificates without proprietary agents. This decentralized architecture avoids single points of failure and can be easily reconfigured for different certificate providers. HID PKIaaS uses the connector model to deliver scalable automation, global resilience, simple subscription pricing, expert support and fewer operational burdens. By future‑proofing certificate issuance and lifecycle management, organizations can strengthen security while reducing complexity and IT workload.

PKI remains a foundational technology for passwordless authentication, data protection and securing users, devices and applications. But as attack surfaces expand and IT teams face increased workload, in‑house PKI has become difficult and costly to maintain. Organizations report stretched staff, growing complexity and rising security demands—conditions that make traditional PKI models harder to scale and keep compliant. Managing PKI internally requires significant upfront investment, ongoing maintenance, specialized expertise and rapid updates to address evolving threats. These pressures are accelerating the shift toward cloud-based PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS). When evaluating on‑prem PKI versus PKIaaS, organizations should assess operational efficiency, compliance needs and architectural agility. Cloud PKI delivers fast certificate issuance, supports multiple certificate types, controls costs and integrates easily with modern development and identity workflows. PKIaaS also simplifies compliance by enforcing strong policies, enabling Zero Trust principles and staying continuously updated with best practices. Architecturally, it provides scalable, interoperable infrastructure that adapts to new use cases without burdening IT. HID’s PKIaaS embodies this model through a subscription-based service that removes operational barriers and enables real-time certificate issuance and encryption capabilities for organizations of all sizes.

The rapid adoption of Chromebooks for remote work and distance learning has elevated the need for strong, scalable device security. Because Chromebooks rely heavily on network connectivity, certificate-based authentication through Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) offers an effective way to secure access to wireless and enterprise networks while enabling passwordless authentication. Digital certificates stored in a device’s Trusted Platform Module (TPM) provide a trusted identity for each Chromebook, reducing reliance on passwords and strengthening Zero Trust security models. While Google’s native certificate enrollment capabilities are designed for environments using Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS), many organizations require a more flexible approach. HID’s PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS) extends automated certificate provisioning and lifecycle management to Chromebook deployments regardless of whether AD CS is present. By combining cloud-based PKI, identity federation and automated certificate enrollment, organizations can simplify Chromebook management, improve security and scale certificate-based authentication across educational and enterprise environments.