Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) has long been a cornerstone of secure digital and online operations. Traditionally, organizations have managed their PKI infrastructure in-house, which involves setting up and maintaining certification authorities, managing keys, and ensuring compliance with security standards. However, the landscape has rapidly changed in the past 10 years, and PKI as a Service (PKIaaS) has emerged as a the most powerful, reliable and elastic alternative for those who need to put in place this kind of infrastructures without having to heavily invest and train personnel.
What a PKI as a Service ?
PKIaaS is a cloud-based solution that provides organizations with the benefits of PKI without the complexities of managing their own infrastructure, therefore, the main key features of the PKIaaS are:
- The simplification of management tasks, as the organizations can offload the burden of PKI management to a trusted service provider. Managing an in-house PKI infrastructure involves significant complexity. PKIaaS streamlines the process, allowing organizations to focus on their core business activities.
- The elasticity and quick scalability, as this business model allows organizations to effortlessly accommodate growing needs whether they are a small businesses or a large enterprises;
- Availability, as PKIaaS operations are provided through redundant data centers, it ensures high availability with minimal downtime, which is crucial for critical services that rely on certificates.
- High standards, PKIaaS providers located within the EU ensures compliance with EU regulations and data protection laws as the higher standards in the area around the world.
- The cost-effectiveness, by eliminating the need for on-premises hardware and expertise the organization do not have to perform capital investments that might affect the bottom line of the business results.
In the evolving landscape of digital transactions….
Namirial stands out as a key player, particularly in Europe and Latin America. As a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) under the European Union’s eIDAS regulation, Namirial offers a suite of electronic services designed to ensure secure and trusted digitalization for businesses and institutions, such as:
Digital Certificates: Namirial facilitates the generation of qualified digital certificates, enabling entities to become their own QTSP using the PKIaaS.
Electronic Signature: Namirial provides the highest level of security for electronic signatures, ensuring full legal compliance for document signing.
Time Stamping: Namirial time stamping services generate certified time stamps that provide legal evidence for digital transactions allowing the qualification of the organization as a QTSP as well.
On the other hand…
With a presence in every continent around the world, Namirial’s innovative solutions are tailored to comply with the legal frameworks of various countries and regions. By using the same infrastructure in multiple countries and jurisdictions, the PKIaaS offers huge opportunities in cross-border trust operations as it enables that organizations can seamlessly operate in different countries with the same security level.
This situation leads a second very important feature, which is that using the same infrastructure for operations in several jurisdictions encourages interoperability. As the services rely on certificates —such as e-signatures, secure email, and document exchange— based on the same technology, the organizations using it can operate seamlessly across borders without the need of integrating new systems.
The whole landscape of the model enables the international expansion of digital operations and services, especially when the trust is established within the EU that becomes a foundation for providing highly secure heavily audited and supervised services.
For sure PKIaaS represents a paradigm shift in how organizations manage their digital trust services. By embracing this model, organizations can simply unlock new opportunities for cross-border collaboration. As the EU continues to lead in PKI standards, leveraging a unified infrastructure becomes a strategic advantage.
This seamless and interconnected operation of several QTSPs around the world for securing digital transactions enabled by Namirial’s infrastructure is what we call the Global Trust Platform.
Credits to:
David Marquez, PKIaaS Programme Manager
Rodrigo Lopez, Head of Operation Spain-Latam