Reimagining Device Security for the Enterprise
J. Hunter Hawke
Is an “Identity Revolution” upon us? The digital landscape within the modern enterprise is rapidly evolving. It is harder every day to trust the devices and individuals accessing the company network and internal resources. Credential phishing is still the #1 initial access vector. But credentials are useless without a trusted device. This has made establishing and maintaining strong device security a cornerstone of modern IT architectures. Step CA Pro makes phishing irrelevant — unless they physically compromise your device, too.
The new security perimeter
Fortunately, it is possible to unlock the full potential of device identity within your organization. With the ACME Device Attestation (ACME DA) protocol, an IETF standard that Smallstep co-developed with Google, with adoption by strategic partners like Apple, the door to getting the strongest possible verification of authentic device identity is opened.
Using the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) or Secure Enclave within the device from manufacturing time, this advanced capability ensures that only authenticated, company-trusted devices can access the enterprise’s most sensitive information. This prevents sophisticated attacks including credential exfiltration, phishing attempts, and device impersonation that traditional strategies often miss. Your CEO could hand over his credentials to a threat actor, and those credentials will be ineffective unless the CEO’s trusted device has been compromised too. Bye, bye phishing attacks!
Built on a foundation of open source
Step CA Pro represents the next evolution of our popular open-source step-ca project, which has been embraced by organizations worldwide. Our commercial-grade certificate authority solution is specifically designed for enterprise environments that have mission-critical device identity requirements. The professional edition delivers enhanced capabilities and advanced notifications, while ensuring backward compatibility with existing implementations. Current users can upgrade seamlessly without disrupting their infrastructure.
For teams already leveraging our open source step-ca, Step CA Pro functions as a drop-in replacement that immediately expands your security posture with enterprise features, advanced compliance options, and improved performance characteristics.
Enterprise-ready by design
We know that enterprise security teams need both advanced capabilities and complete control over their infrastructure. That's why Step CA Pro is deployed on-premises, giving organizations full control over their Certificate Authority and root signing keys while simultaneously benefiting from cloud-based management and integration options.
Step CA Pro isn't just about security—it's built for the operational realities of enterprise environments:
- Fast deployment with minimal overhead in Linux or container environments
- High-volume certificate issuance with HSM integration
- Comprehensive protocol support (ACME, SCEP, REST, OAuth OIDC)
- High availability with distributed topology for uninterrupted operations
- Enhanced observability through OpenTelemetry integration
- Relational database schema for sophisticated compliance reporting
- Integration APIs for existing Certificate Lifecycle Management solutions
- FIPS-compliant binary for regulatory requirements
When connected to the Smallstep cloud, there is more:
- Distributed local CAs with synchronized configuration and revocation data
- Manage multiple CAs in a single-pane- of- glass
- Advanced Device Identity features with hardware attestation
- Direct access to advanced Support
This hybrid approach gives you control of your most sensitive cryptographically-protected assets, while gaining the operational efficiencies of modern, cloud-connected tooling.
It’s time to call the elephant out
If your enterprise wants to truly tackle the challenge of Zero Trust, it is necessary to acknowledge the eleph… ahem, the missing half of the strategy in the room (hint: it's devices). When every device must unequivocally prove its identity before accessing sensitive resources, now you are not only verifying the user but also that they are using a device the company trusts. And doing this without adding user friction? That’s a game changer.
Security teams can solve the growing challenge of establishing strong device identity at enterprise scale with Step CA Pro. Click here to download our data sheet to share with your team, or someone else who may benefit from simplifying certificate management across your organization.
