Automated SSL Certificate Manager for Web Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Website owners often find the process of generating and managing SSL certificates complex, leading to potential certificate expiration and security vulnerabilities due to forgotten renewal dates.
Innovation Solution
A service provider network with a certificate manager that automates the generation, verification, and renewal of SSL certificates, reducing the burden on website owners by handling key management and integration with load balancers for secure communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If SSL certificates are generated manually through a multistep process, then certificate security and validity are ensured, but the complexity of the process exceeds the technical knowledge of many website owners
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automated self-service certificate management where the certificate manager automatically generates, renews, and manages SSL certificates without requiring website owners to perform manual steps. The system monitors expiration dates and handles the entire certificate lifecycle autonomously, transforming a complex manual process into an automated self-service operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a certificate manager as an intermediary component that mediates between website owners and the certificate generation/renewal process. This intermediary automatically handles the multistep certificate process, including generating CSR files, managing private keys, and coordinating with CAs, thereby shielding website owners from technical complexity while ensuring security.
2Loss of time
If SSL certificates have long validity periods of one to two years, then certificate management frequency is reduced, but website owners may forget renewal dates and leave websites unprotected
Solution Approach 1:
The certificate manager implements a feedback mechanism that continuously monitors certificate expiration dates and automatically initiates renewal processes before certificates expire. The system tracks the validity period and provides status information, ensuring that certificates are renewed timely without requiring website owners to remember renewal dates, thus maintaining continuous protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically initiating certificate renewal processes before the current certificates expire. The certificate manager monitors expiration dates in advance and executes renewal operations proactively, ensuring that there is no gap in SSL protection and preventing the scenario where websites become unprotected due to forgotten renewal dates.
3Ease of operation
If website owners actively manage SSL certificates themselves, then control over security credentials is maintained, but the burden of complex certificate management falls on website owners
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex certificate management functions from the website owner's responsibilities and consolidates them into a dedicated certificate manager component. This extraction separates the burden of managing multistep processes, private keys, and expiration tracking from website owners, placing it instead in the service provider's infrastructure, thereby reducing operational burden while maintaining security control.
Data Source
AI summary
A service provider network includes a certificate manager that auto-generates and auto-renews security certificates for customers of the provider network. The security certificates may be usable to implement a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, or other types of security protocols. The certificate manager generates a public key, private key pair for the customer, generates the certificate signing request (CSR) on behalf of the customer, transmits the CSR to the certificate authority (CA), and binds the resulting CA-generated certificate and private key to whatever internet-facing service the customer chooses (e.g., a load balancer).