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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Intermediate

Certificate Lifetime

The validity period of a certificate, between its notBefore and notAfter dates.

Definition

Shorter lifetimes reduce the window of misuse after key compromise and lessen reliance on revocation. Under CA/Browser Forum ballot SC-081, maximum public TLS certificate validity drops to 200 days from March 2026, 100 days from March 2027, and 47 days from March 2029. This makes automated certificate management essential.

Example

An organization automates renewal with ACME because its public certificates now expire every 200 days.

Exam tip

Expired certificates cause outages; shrinking lifetimes push organizations to automation.

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