Prevent Service Outages and Loss of Trust Due to Expired SSL Certificates: 'Smart Cert Manage Service' Renewed with Automated Renewals for Stable Operations

Seiko Solutions Inc. (President and Representative Director: Jun Sekine; Headquarters: Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture; hereinafter 'Seiko Solutions') is renewing its 'Smart Cert Manage Service' to address the challenge of increased operational load due to the shortening of SSL certificate validity periods. The service is scheduled for release within fiscal year 2026. By automating certificate renewal tasks, the service will be upgraded into a new solution that supports the continuity of corporate services. Due to a review of industry rules aimed at strengthening internet security, the validity period of SSL certificates, which are essential for secure communication on the internet, will be gradually shortened, reaching 47 days in three years. This will significantly increase the frequency of certificate renewals, posing a challenge of increased operational burden for companies. To respond to these changes driven by security enhancements, companies are required to shift from traditional manual certificate management to operations based on automation. ▶ Impact of Shorter SSL Certificate Validity Periods ・ Renewal tasks will increase from once a year to once every 1 to 1.5 months in three years. ・ The number of steps in the renewal process will also increase, including obtaining private keys, creating CSRs, applying to certificate authorities, and deploying certificates. ・ Managing many certificates per server or site, combined with shorter validity periods, increases the risk of human error with manual updates. ・ Failure to renew a certificate can lead to website or service outages, impacting business. To quickly respond to these changes and ensure stable operation of corporate systems, the 'Smart Cert Manage Service' will be significantly enhanced as an SSL certificate auto-renewal service and released as a new service. By 'automating, expanding the scope of support, and transitioning to SaaS' for SSL certificate operations, the service reduces the security operational load on companies and the system operational risks related to certificates. ・ Automation of certificate renewal via ACME protocol support In response to the expansion of ACME protocol support by certificate authorities, the service has shifted from individual API integrations for each CA to certificate management using the standardized ACME protocol. This automates everything from domain validation to certificate issuance and renewal, improving the efficiency of SSL certificate operations, reducing operational load, and lowering the risk of missed renewals. ・ Expanded support for multiple certificate authorities and cloud services The service supports certificate authorities that adopt the ACME protocol (DigiCert, GMO GlobalSign, Cybertrust, JPRS, Let's Encrypt) and will expand the scope of automatic application from traditional on-premises server OS to cloud services. This enables flexible certificate management across diverse system environments. ・ Provided as a SaaS for unified certificate management and simplified operations In addition to the traditional on-premises environment, the service will be offered as a SaaS. By providing certificate management as a service, the burden of introduction and operation is reduced, eliminating the need for customers to perform complex management tasks themselves. Seiko Solutions will support safer and more sustainable security operations for companies by simultaneously improving the efficiency of SSL certificate management and expanding its scope of application. *Smart Cert Manage is a registered trademark of Seiko Group Corporation. *Other product names mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. *This information is current as of the time of announcement and is subject to change without notice.