The world of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is undergoing a seismic shift. Recent changes in industry standards and browser mandates are dramatically shortening the lifespan of TLS certificates, creating new challenges for IT teams worldwide.
What’s Changing—and Why It Matters
Starting March 2026, public Certificate Authorities (CAs) will begin reducing the maximum validity period for TLS certificates. This transition is only the first phase: over the next few years, certificate lifespans will shrink significantly:
March 2026: Maximum lifespan reduced to 200 days
March 2027: Reduced to 100 days
March 2029: Reduced to 47 days
This phased approach to decreasing certificate lifespans means IT teams will face a surge in certificate renewals—moving from annual updates to potentially monthly renewals in just 4 years’ time. If you think about the headache mis-managed certificates cause today, imagine the impact increasing exponentially, once certificate lifespans taper down to 47-days without automation being implemented.
The Solution: PKI-as-a-Service + Hands-On Training
To address this challenge, CloudShare and HID Global have joined forces. HID’s PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS) automates certificate lifecycle management, reducing risk and freeing IT teams from repetitive tasks. In combination with CloudShare’s Hands-On Labs, organizations can learn, test, and deploy PKI automation in a secure and simulated environment.
This partnership ensures that those working directly with certificate management can harness the power of PKI prior to purchasing, evaluate the simplicity of HID’s solutions, and influence their organization’s decision makers without impacting operational efficiency, and before making a wrong turn with a vendor that overpromises but under delivers.
Why Act Now?
The first changes in certificate validity periods are approaching fast. Organizations that prepare early will avoid costly outages and security gaps. HID PKIaaS offers:
End-to-end certificate lifecycle automation to handle frequent certificate renewals
Analytics and reporting for visibility and compliance
Scalable architecture for hybrid and cloud environments
Looking Ahead
Staying ahead of the curve does not have to be complicated. In addition to providing a completely controlled lab environment for prospective users, HID’s partnership with CloudShare is future-ready, with plans to create lab environments beyond just the certificate automation challenges of today.
Read the full CloudShare media release and explore how HID PKIaaS can simplify your certificate management strategy in our Buyer’s Guide.
