Method and system for managing public-key client certificates

A system for managing public-key client certificates, comprising a certificate server and an authenticating entity, wherein the certificate server is configured to:

• store a compliance policy, comprising one or more rules;
• continuously monitor one or more compliance parameters associated with at least one client computer;
• receive a certificate request from the at least one client computer to access a computational resource;
• if the monitored compliance parameters do not comply with at least one rule of the compliance policy, respond to the certificate request by refusing to grant a certificate to the at least one client computer;
• and
• if the monitored compliance parameters comply with the rules of the compliance policy, respond to the certificate request by granting a policy-based certificate to the at least one client computer,
• wherein the authenticating entity is configured to authenticate the client computer's policy-based certificate, to enable access of the client computer to the computational resource.

A method of managing public-key client certificates by at least one processor, the method comprising:

• maintaining a compliance policy comprising one or more rules;
• continuously monitoring one or more compliance parameters associated with at least one client computer;
• receiving a certificate request from the at least one client computer to access a computational resource;
• if the monitored compliance parameters do not comply with at least one rule of the compliance policy, responding to the certificate request by refusing to grant a certificate to the at least one client computer;
• and
• if the monitored compliance parameters comply with the rules of the compliance policy, responding to the certificate request by granting a policy-based certificate to the at least one client computer.