{"id":3545,"date":"2024-12-20T14:55:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sectigostore.com\/blog\/?p=3545"},"modified":"2024-12-20T15:09:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T15:09:33","slug":"active-directory-certificate-services-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sectigostore.com\/blog\/active-directory-certificate-services-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Active Directory Certificate Services 101: An Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

59% of <\/a>professionals<\/a> interviewed in 2024 struggle with orchestrating their PKI. Enter Active Directory Certificate Services, which, when paired with the right certificate management approach, empowers even smaller organizations to streamline private PKI responsibilities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a world where securing your SMB’s communications isn’t too expensive or overly complicated. This would be a place where even the +80% of SMB<\/a> victims of at least one cyber attack in the 12 months before June 2024 can issue, validate, and manage their digital certificates by establishing their own private<\/a>–<\/a>public key infrastructure<\/a> (PKI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this a dream? Nope. It’s the world of Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS), which is a Windows server feature that’s part of Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) infrastructure. (NOTE:<\/strong> AD is a critical underpinning of Windows Servers!) AD CS, which enables organizations to establish trust between authenticated users, devices, and systems and secure internal communication channels, is integral to issuing certificates for your Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we’ll introduce you to the basics of Active Directory Certificate Services and explore what it does, how it’s used, and why implementing it may be a good option for your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is an Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Active Directory Certificate Services is Microsoft’s answer for an on-prem private PKI platform. More specifically, it\u2019s a Windows Server role that enables organizations of all sizes to implement and manage internal PKIs and the digital certificates they facilitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AD CS allows businesses with the resources to set up private certificate authorities<\/a> (CAs) to issue, validate, new, revoke, distribute, and otherwise securely manage digital certificates that are trusted within their internal networks. When integrated with Active Directory and with relevant Group Policies in place, organizations can use AD CS\u2019s automation capabilities to simplify their certificate management within the Windows ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AD CS Is for Private (Non-Public) PKIs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A private PKI differs from a public PKI, which is owned and operated by a trusted third-party CA (e.g., Sectigo). Private PKIs secure internal resources, whereas public PKIs secure public-facing resources such as websites, software, and emails to external recipients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Active
Image caption: Private PKI will keep your private\/internal network assets secure, while the public PK helps protect your external network assets on public networks (i.e., the internet).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NOTE:<\/strong> The certificates issued by your internal CA infrastructure will only be trusted by the devices, applications, and systems within your AD domain or on devices you\u2019ve manually installed the root CA certificate on. The certificates will not be trusted by anything else! But we\u2019ll get more into that a little later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where AD CS Fits Into Active Directory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Certificate Services is strictly responsible for things relating to PKI digital certificates (issuance, management, revocation, etc. AD CS represents just one of several services offered through AD:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
Image caption: A basic illustration that shows the different services available through Microsoft Active Directory.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

AD CS can be used on its own (though with more limited functionality) or by integrating with AD DS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/figure>
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Take Your Existing Microsoft CA to the Next Level with Sectigo Private PKI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sectigo Private PKI<\/strong> is a managed PKI service that complements your Microsoft CA and expands it to protect the non-Windows devices on your networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It works with Sectigo Certificate Manager<\/strong> to simplify and streamline certificate deployment and management across all devices and applications within your ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Learn More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A Breakdown of Integral AD CS Components<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AD CS provides different role services, each responsible for specific aspects of an organization’s internal PKI. You can select one or more of these roles when setting up your Certificate Services. Let’s examine these components and what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n