For organizations that have multiple domains, such as multiple regions, brands or business units, maintaining the organization of all SSL certificates and keeping them current can be a challenge. It can be difficult for even a well-staffed IT department to keep track of dozens of domains with multiple expiration dates, installation statuses and renewal processes. The Subject Alternative Name SSL (SAN SSL) is a simpler solution as it enables a single certificate to be used for multiple domains. This will not only make administration simpler, but also help to prevent the risk of a forgotten renewal leaving the domain unprotected. With businesses expanding their online footprint, SAN SSL can revolutionize the complex and chaotic certificate environment into a manageable and centralized one.
- Centralizing Certificate Management
SAN SSL combines all the certificates and expiration dates into a single certificate and expiration date, rather than logging into multiple accounts or keeping track of spreadsheets with multiple expiration dates. This centralization allows IT teams to more easily keep track of status, schedule renewals, and prevent certificate chaos that can occur when certificates are spread across various domains and departments.
- Minimizing the risk of expired certificates.
You’re not likely to see a sophisticated attack as one of the most common security failures is forgetting to renew a certificate before it expires. If this is the case, and domains are handled separately, this risk increases as each new domain is added. SAN SSL mitigates this risk greatly by ensuring that all of the domains covered will be renewed at the same time, simplifying the process of keeping up to date with deadlines.
- Backing up a variety of domain portfolios
The growth of many organizations is achieved through acquisitions, expansion to new regions, or new product lines, and each of these initiatives is likely to be launched with a different domain name. This diversity is catered for by SAN SSL which allows unrelated domain names to be included in the same certificate, whereas wildcard SSL only allows subdomains of a specific root domain to be added to the certificate.
- Reducing the overall security costs.
The cost of buying, installing and renewing certificates for each domain can quickly become an expensive and time-consuming task. SAN SSL cuts down on this overhead by consolidating coverage into fewer transactions, freeing up budget and time to be spent on other security priorities in the organization.
- Simplify the configuration of Server and Load Balancer.
It is sometimes easier to deploy a single SAN certificate on multiple servers or load balancers than it is to deploy certificates for each individual server or load balancer. This abstraction minimizes configuration mistakes and simplifies it for infrastructure teams to maintain the same security settings throughout an organization’s domain portfolio.
Conclusion
SAN SSL is a good solution for businesses with multiple domains, to minimise complexity without compromising security coverage. SAN SSL streamlines what may be a disjointed and prone-to-error process, centralizes management, reduces risk of renewals, and supports various domain structures. For organizations aiming to expand their online presence efficiently, SAN SSL is a crucial component of their certificate management approach.