Certified Security Solutions, Inc., leading Microsoft identity and security partner announced today its support of SSL certificate management in the new release of the Certificate Reporting Tool (CRT). The addition of SSL certificate capabilities rounds out CSS’ certificate management software and enables PKI administrators to automate and centralize the certificate management of all internal and trusted 3rd party certificates. By monitoring SSL certificates and providing more flexibility in reporting on Microsoft Certificate Authority (CA) certificates, organizations can now gain more control of their certificate inventories.
Certificate Reporting Tool Configuration Utility
New Features available in CRT v2.1 include:
- CRT Certificate Scanner – The certificate scanner’s capabilities includes the discovery of digital certificates and CRLs that have been deployed from any SSL Certificate Authority, in addition to the previously supported Microsoft CA. This easy-to-use utility discovers SSL certificates by scanning Internet Protocol (IP) and port ranges. Simply enter a range of IP addresses and ports and the CRT certificate scanner will find and report on any digital certificates found at those locations. The utility will create a ‘master’ list of hosts to be scanned periodically by CRT and send renewal notifications on upcoming expiring digital certificates.
SSL Certificate Scanner Utility
- More Types of Notifications –This release of CRT extends the ability to send customized email notifications on upcoming expiring digital certificates to include Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificate Monitoring. Organizations employing CRT can now add the ability to analyze SSL certificates to determine date validity and register one or more email addresses to receive SSL certificate alerts. Notifications will be sent if:
- The SSL certificate is not yet effective (effective date greater than the current date)
- The SSL certificate is expired (expiration date less than the current date)
- The SSL certificate will expire within X number of days
- Can be configured on a per-certificate basis
Enhancements to Existing Features:
- Early CRL Warning –Now you can configure warning notifications based on the condition of the CRL expiring within X number of days; configurable on a per-CRL-basis.
Certificate Reporting Tool CRL Email Warning
- Enriched Configuration Utility Email Capabilities –CSS has upgraded the email capabilities to include:
- Confirm Delivery…Email Test Feature - Confirms that CRT certificate and CRL emails won’t get stopped by an email server or firewall. Verify the configuration settings directly from the entry screen without leaving the system.
- Save Time…Eliminate Command Lines - Reports, Notices, Pending Certificate Alerts, Statistical Reports, CRL Warnings, and SSL Warnings can now send emails to the designated email addresses directly through the Configuration Utility.
- Support for Custom Workflow Integration – Multiple Notice Handlers can be defined within the Configuration Utility, and associated with individual Notices. Providing more flexibility by allowing for different functionality to be executed per certificate template.
Certificate Reporting Tool Custom Handler Configuration Window
- Automate Management Processes – Multiple Certificate Alert Handlers can be defined within the Configuration Utility, and associated with the processing of individual certificate templates. The CRT Notice Handler plugin interface provides the flexibility to perform nearly any task during the creation of a certificate notice or pending request alert, and allows for robust interaction with other back-end systems. For more details on this feature see the blog written by senior developer, Gary Galehouse, “Writing Event Plugin Handlers for the Certificate Reporting Tool (CRT).”
- A Smarter Configuration Utility User Interface –The Configuration Utility User Interface has been updated to include several new features:
- Enhanced Validation of User Entry – Detailed warnings are displayed for any potentially invalid data entry.
- Direct link is provided to the documentation, via Help menu.
Certificate Reporting Tool Validation Warning
- Engine Tune Up – The CRT certificate processing engine has been tuned to reduce the memory footprint and perform more efficiently. CRT will execute reports, notifications and warnings faster while utilizing fewer resources in the process.
- Binaries Targeted to Operating System (OS) Architectures – The installer has been refined to install binary versions for OS architectures. Separate installers are targeted for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.
Upgrading and Support
Interested in automating your certificate management process, contact software@css-security.com or 877-715-5448.