Page 177 - Cyber Defense eMagazine July 2024

Automate for efficiency

After acquiring in-depth visibility into potentially risky areas, the next step is to ensure the organization is
prepared to replace outdated cryptographic assets quickly, and at scale. These assets include any
documents, servers, processes, users, and devices that utilize cryptography. Automation can play an
important role in responding to new challenges on short notice. Individually managing cryptographic
assets is error-prone, labor intensive, and time-consuming.

For a large enterprise organization with many thousands of cryptographic assets such as certificates, it’s
simply not practical to update crypto manually. The simplest way to ease certificate lifecycle management
is to use PKI as a service, with an automation manager, which can enable organizations to rapidly roll
out large numbers of certificates in just minutes, to cloud or on-premises environments.

Test for preparedness

Cryptographic elements often extend across a variety of applications and environments, so
interoperability testing is another important step for improving crypto-agility. Many organizations, such as
DevOps teams, routinely perform testing as part of their development cycles, so testing won’t require
major changes, but refinement of existing processes.

When it’s time to update cryptographic algorithms, first check the interoperability of your infrastructure
and applications before migrating at scale.

Solving for today’s challenges, and preparing for the future

Although any strategic initiative can seem daunting, taking some steps to strengthen crypto-agility today
can reassure key decision-makers that their organization is fully prepared for challenges that lie on the
horizon. According to the Ponemon report, organizations that were considered high performers in the
survey were more positive about their ability to achieve a safe post quantum computing future using the
necessary cryptographic techniques. With the right culture, communication, tools, and technology
partner, organizations can get on the fast track toward crypto-agility today.

For organizations and individuals wishing to learn more about how to become quantum ready or are on
the fence about when to start a quantum strategy, DigiCert created World Quantum Readiness Day that
will be on September 26, 2024. The event serves to drive awareness of the implications of quantum with
a plethora of information on what companies can do today.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – July 2024 Edition 177
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