Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) is the process of managing digital certificates from their creation to their expiration or revocation. Digital certificates are electronic credentials that verify the identity of individuals, devices, or organizations and enable secure, encrypted communication over networks. They are a fundamental part of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), ensuring trust and data integrity in digital interactions. CLM involves key stages such as requesting, issuing, installing, monitoring, renewing, and revoking certificates. This process helps prevent service disruptions, security breaches, and compliance failures. CLM is used by a wide range of users including IT administrators, security teams, DevOps engineers, and compliance officers who rely on it to maintain secure and reliable digital environments.
Gartner defines privileged access management (PAM) as tools that provide an elevated level of technical access through the management and protection of accounts, credentials and commands, which are used to administer or configure systems and applications. PAM tools — available as software, SaaS or hardware appliances — manage privileged access for both people (system administrators and others) and machines (systems or applications). Gartner defines four distinct tool categories for PAM tools: privileged account and session management (PASM), privilege elevation and delegation management (PEDM), secrets management, and cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM).