Black Hat Fireside Chat: Automation takes center stage as TLS lifespans grow ever shorter

The countdown is on for security teams still managing digital certificates with spreadsheets and manual workarounds.

Related: Preparing for the quantum future

Starting in 2026, TLS certificate lifespans will begin dropping sharply — from 398 days to just 47 by 2029. That shift isn’t just a technical nuance. It’s a foundational disruption to how enterprises maintain digital trust.

In this Last Watchdog Fireside Chat, I spoke with DigiCert’s Vice President of Product and Solutions Marketing, Ashley Stevenson, about what this transition means and how companies can prepare.

We unpacked the risks that come with shorter certificate lifecycles — including costly outages, broken workflows, and lost customer confidence — and the growing imperative to automate certificate management from a single platform. Stevenson explained how many organizations still rely on fragmented systems and manual tracking, often leading to gaps that don’t get noticed until services go offline.

He also shared insights from a recent Forrester study showing that DigiCert customers reduced average certificate renewal times by 98%, while improving both security posture and operational efficiency. In practice, that means replacing hours of tedious manual work with secure, API-driven renewals that happen in seconds.

The conversation also looked forward. Financial institutions are embracing federated PKI architectures, like the emerging X9 model, to build system-to-system trust beyond the browser. And Stevenson made a strong case for why every CISO should be thinking now about quantum readiness — and how automating today lays the groundwork for surviving tomorrow’s cryptographic upheaval.

It’s a timely, high-signal conversation for any organization navigating the next wave of digital trust challenges.

Give a listen to the accompanying podcast.

Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.

(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)

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