HID Study Exposes PKI’s Evolving Role in Securing the AI, Automation, and Quantum Computing Landscape

HID, a global leader in trusted identity solutions, has unveiled critical insights from its latest market study, “Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in the Age of AI and Automation.” This comprehensive report, which surveyed over 300 IT leaders across the United States and Europe, sheds light on how organizations are confronting the escalating challenges and opportunities in PKI within the dynamic realms of artificial intelligence, automation, and post-quantum computing.

The study serves as an essential guide for security leaders, identifying pivotal trends, emerging threats, and transformative innovations that are reshaping this fast-moving market. Its findings offer crucial insights, empowering enterprises to strategically align their security frameworks with the demands of an increasingly complex digital future.

Automation Takes Center Stage in PKI Strategies

Automation is rapidly ascending to the top of security priorities, driven by its unparalleled ability to mitigate the pervasive risk of human error in certificate management. This benefit is becoming increasingly urgent as digital certificate lifespans rapidly diminish. A prime example is Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates, vital for securing encrypted connections across websites and applications. With the CA/Browser Forum phasing in a reduction of TLS certificate validity — from 398 days to a mere 47 days by 2029 — manual certificate management is fast becoming untenable. In response, a remarkable 67% of surveyed executives are already automating renewal processes.

Beyond error reduction, automation significantly enhances scalability, proving indispensable for securing dynamic environments such as IoT devices and burgeoning AI agents. Leaders across organizations of all sizes recognize its strategic importance, with 61% of respondents planning to invest in PKI automation within the next two years.

PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS) Gains Momentum

The adoption of PKI-as-a-Service (PKIaaS) offers a compelling alternative to traditional on-premise hardware and servers, promising seamless automation from certificate issuance to renewal and revocation. While 76% of organizations have integrated cloud components into their PKI infrastructure, fully cloud-based deployments remain less common, utilized by only 23%. Notably, larger enterprises with over 100,000 employees often gravitate towards hybrid PKI deployments, suggesting a strategic balance between the agility of PKIaaS and the enhanced security and control offered by on-premise infrastructure.

Compliance: A Strategic Driver for PKI Adoption

In an era defined by an ever-expanding landscape of regulations — from GDPR and the Cyber Resilience Act to NIS2 and HIPAA — compliance has transformed into a strategic imperative for PKI adoption. The consequences of non-compliance are severe. Nearly half of executives (45%) cite regulatory compliance as a primary business goal they aim to achieve through PKI, while 39% formally measure it as a key performance indicator. This underscores PKI’s critical role not just in security, but in broader organizational governance and risk management.

Post-Quantum Cryptography Readiness Lags Despite Looming Threat

As quantum computing rapidly matures, it presents an existential threat to contemporary encryption, enabling malicious actors to engage in “harvest now, decrypt later” strategies. Despite this recognized and imminent danger, adoption of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) remains remarkably cautious. Only 12% of respondents are currently piloting PQC, 25% are developing internal plans, and 37% are merely monitoring evolving standards.

The transition to PQC is anticipated to be one of the most complex cryptographic shifts in industry history. Reflecting this complexity, larger enterprises and U.S.-based organizations are showing greater proactive engagement. The survey reveals that organizations with over 50,000 employees are two to three times more likely to be running PQC pilots compared to their smaller counterparts.

AI Agents Emerge as a Critical New Identity Category

While AI standards continue to evolve, the imperative to secure both customer interactions and bot-to-bot exchanges is becoming a pressing priority. The study highlights that 34% of organizations identify AI agent certificates as a top trend, signifying the PKI community’s forward-thinking response to evolving AI-driven trust paradigms. Adoption figures show a slight lead in the United States (18%) compared to Europe (13%), marking AI agents as a definitive new frontier for identity and security professionals.