DigiCert has released new findings from its Trust Pulse Survey highlighting the impact of certificate-related incidences draining enterprise resources and eroding digital trust.

Reportedly nearly half of all enterprises surveyed experienced downtime due to certificate-related incidents in the past year – resulting in significant financial losses, service disruptions and reputational harm. 

The company articulated that as organisations scale their digital operations, the volume and complexity of certificates have outpaced manual management methods, leaving enterprises vulnerable to outages, compliance failures and escalating security risks.

Regulatory frameworks

DigiCert states that regulatory frameworks such as HIPAA, EU DORA, PCI DSS and forthcoming CA/B Forum changes are placing increased emphasis on certificate-related management.

By 2029, major browsers will reportedly enforce 47-day certificate lifespans, while the push toward quantum-safe algorithms will break legacy PKI configurations and overwhelm manual processes – making modernisation not optional, but essential. 

“The invisible backbone”

Ashley Stevenson, Vice President of Product and Solutions Marketing, DigiCert said: “PKI certificates are the invisible backbone of the world’s digital civilization – and when they are mismanaged, the organisations feel it.

“The survey findings make one thing clear: Manual approaches can’t keep up with the scale, speed and scrutiny organisations are under today.

“Enterprises need automation and visibility to reduce risk, maintain compliance and preserve customer trust.

“Certificate management is no longer a tactical task – it’s a strategic necessity worthy of the same maturity and governance as other foundational disciplines like identity management.”

Certificate-related incidents

Despite the central role digital certificates play in securing infrastructure, communication and identity, many organisations reportedly still manage them manually or with fragmented tools.

DigiCert has articulated that the result is that nearly half of respondents (45%) reported experiencing service downtime due to certificate-related incidents in the last year.

A further 37.5% reportedly attributed outages specifically to expired certificates – one of the most preventable causes of disruption in enterprise environments. 

According to the company, 31% of organisations reported losses between $50,000 and $250,000, while 18.5% lost more than $250,000 due to certificate-related issues.

More than half of respondents are said to have endured 5-24 hours of downtime with 15.4% having experienced 25 hours or more. 

Growing complexity, shrinking visibility 

Certificate volumes are reportedly rising across industries, with 80% of respondents expecting growth in the next 12 months. Yet organisations remain underprepared.

While nearly 60% of respondents have reportedly managed between 1,000 and 10,000 certificates and more than half (56.6%) expressed concern about their ability to track certificate expiration dates.

DigiCert notes that without automation, human error and system misconfiguration become inevitable. 

An executive concern

What was once considered a backend IT task is now an executive concern.

CISOs and other senior security leaders reportedly ranked customer trust (62.2%), regulatory compliance (61.7%) and certificate expiration (56.6%) as their top worries related to certificate management – underscoring the growing importance of certificate management in maintaining operational resilience. 

The survey is said to highlight a clear direction forward: 51% of respondents named automated certificate lifecycle management a top strategic priority for 2025, followed closely by IoT standardisation (49.5%).