Why Replacing SSH Keys With SSH Certificates Strengthens Security

Read full article here: https://www.akeyless.io/blog/eliminating-ssh-keys-is-possible/?utm_source=nhimg

Managing SSH keys at scale is a major operational and security burden for DevOps teams. Hard-to-track keys stored across servers, scripts, and pipelines create risks of misuse, theft, and expired or orphaned credentials. Even SSH Key Management Software can’t fully automate distribution, rotation, and decommissioning, leaving organizations exposed.

SSH Certificates offer a modern solution:

• Bind public keys to certificates signed by an internal Certificate Authority (CA)

• Integrate with identity providers (Okta, LDAP) for Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication

• Automatically issue ephemeral certificates, eliminating manual key updates

• Enforce expiration dates, ensuring credentials rotate automatically

• Reduce operational risk and simplify CI/CD automation with ephemeral, just-in-time access

By replacing SSH keys with certificates, organizations gain automated, policy-driven, and ephemeral SSH authentication, enabling secure and scalable DevOps workflows without the headaches of traditional key management.

This approach transforms SSH access into a certificate-based workflow that is safer, auditable, and fully compatible with modern cloud architecture.