Dudley Council switches to GlobalSign for simplified SSL Certificate management
Dudley Council switches to GlobalSign for simplified SSL Certificate management
Since purchasing a number of SSL Certificates using GlobalSign’s Managed SSL, I have found the whole process a joy compared to my previous SSL Certificate provider.
Richard Sprigg, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
What we like about GlobalSign is its reputation and track record as a commercial Certificate Authority (CA). We have a strong level of trust with GlobalSign.
— Mike Patterson, Manager, Information Security Operations Information Security Services, University of Waterloo
| CUSTOMER PROFILE | |
|---|---|
| INDUSTRY | Government |
| USER BASE | Dudley Council and at least 785,000 visitors a month |
| GLOBALSIGN SOLUTION | Managed SSL Platform |
At a Glance
PROBLEM
To manage Dudley Council's high traffic domains which receive hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, a lot of time and labour is spent managing and tracking individual certificates across domains, leading to a high risk of expired certificates and unsecure sites.
SOLUTION
Using GlobalSign’s managed SSL service enables centralized purchasing to benefit from simplified management while lowering costs. Departments are able to use a unique public ordering page to place certificate orders and the enterprise retains full control over departmental security, budget allocations and consequently the approval of all orders via one or more account Administrators.
Challenge
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (http://www.dudley.gov.uk) receives an average of 785 thousand visits to its public facing website per month. As a leading Government body within the public service sector, the delivery of the council’s services is extremely important, as well as maintaining its business reputation.
Website protection is a major concern in today’s online security market and like most organisations, Dudley Council is aware of the online risks and threats it may currently be exposed to, consequently harming its websites, affecting browsing visitors, paying customers and internal networks and employees.
Dudley Council required a solution that provided the highest levels of security for its internal and external sites and network infrastructure, as well as an efficient and cost effect way of doing so. With the organization using multiple SSL Certificates to secure its domains and sub-domains, over time it became a time consuming and expensive task to keep track of when each SSL Certificates was due to expire, as well as to coordinate which IT person/department was responsible for it. This lead to the risk of certificates not being renewed on time as well as being potentially exposed to the vulnerabilities of today’s online security threats.
With the Governments ever changing best practices and legislation, it’s essential for organizations within this sector to set the highest security standards, whilst meeting PCI Compliance. SSL encryption is therefore a key securing measure, providing a secure channel between two machines operating over the unsecure Internet or internal network, ensuring any data sent or posted by web browsers is fully encrypted and transmitted securely.
Dudley Council’s IT department therefore recognized the need to implement a simple solution for easy management of its multiple SSL Certificates, speeding up the ordering and issuance processes. Like most organizations, within today’s current climate, Dudley Council faces financial challenges and budget restraints, so is keen to adopt best value for money practices without compromising its security in any form.
Solution Requirements
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Achieve the highest levels of security
With a high traffic government website, high levels of security against online risks and threats for its internal and external sites was required. -
Manage high volumes of certificates
With a large umbrella of domains and sub-domains, keeping track of each SSL certificate was a hassle and ran the risk of missed expiry dates, which meant it was necessary to track certificates in a centralized place. -
Maintain good value for money
Like many public bodies, Dudley Council faces financial challenges and budget restraints, so it's improtant that a solution is good value for money
Solution
GlobalSign offers enterprises with multiple certificate requirements a managed SSL solution, also known as MSSL. MSSL simplifies all stages of an SSL Certificate’s lifecycle, including ordering, approving, issuing, reissuing, renewing, revoking, and billing across numerous departments and locations. With this, an organization only needs to be vetted once, as opposed to each time an individual certificate is ordered. This pre-vetting allows for the immediate issuance of certificates from one centralized account, which is imperative to such an organization, providing time and cost savings.
By choosing MSSL, organizations can take advantage of the benefits and features that are available; Administrators have the ability to create additional users with defined roles and appropriate privileges (e.g. IT Manager for Certificate management and Finance Manager for billing), Access to all SSL Certificate types – including Standard, Extended Validation, WildcardSSL, Unified Communications and Multi-domain. All organizations are assigned a dedicated account manager and all year round support to assist with any aspect of account management or Certificate installation issues.
GlobalSign’s Managed SSL Service provides enterprises of all sizes with an easy web or API based process to manage the complete lifecycle of the organization’s SSL Certificates, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. With immediate discounts over multiple retail purchases and with no hidden costs, organizations can effectively manage multiple certificates in an efficient and cost effect manner.
Dudley Council made the decision to switch to GlobalSign to benefit from its highly trusted SSL Certificates and Managed SSL solution, moving away from its previous SSL vendor, VeriSign. Over the next few months as existing certificates expire, they will be replaced with GlobalSign’s 2048bit SSL Certificates. The majority of Dudley Councils’ sites are secured using GlobalSign’s Organizational Validated (OV) Certificates, a certificate that requires a company level vetting process, checking the organization details and credentials of who owns the domain. Dudley Council choose this level of certificate to benefit from the additional address credentials which would be displayed to their customers or browsing website visitors, when clicking on the Secure Site Seal, giving enhanced visibility in who is behind the site and providing increased levels of trust.
What’s Achieved?
- Dudley Council benefits from high security 2048 bit, future proof SSL certificates, giving them and their website's users peace of mind
- SSL certificates can be managed and monitored on a centralized platform, meaning no missed expiry and less security risk
- Benefits of GlobalSign's Organizational Validated (OV) Certificates, meaning additional address credentials displayed to customers, giving enhanced visibility and increased trust
Ready to discuss your SSL/TLS management needs?
GlobalSign makes it easy to support and manage your certificate needs from one easy-to-use, secure SaaS-based platform. APIs, Active Directory integration, and MDM connectors simplify and automate deployments. Contact us today!
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