I was asked by a client to look at best practices for digital certificates, such as X.509 and the like. I extended that research to include all types of encryption certificates, SSL/code signing, etc.

Basically, there was a dearth of best practice information available for setting the expiration dates on certs issued for various purposes.

We found a wealth of mentions in PCI, FFIEC, FDIC, NCUA, HIPAA, NIST and other guidance about checking to make sure that expiration dates were valid, reasonable and such, but no real guidance for what “reasonable” is or anything to cite to make a statement that your approach and processes fit the reasonable judgement.

At the MSI blog.

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