Define Certificate Revocation Policies

The certificate revocation policies of your organization include policies for revoking certificates and policies for certificate revocation lists (CRLs).

Policies for Revoking Certificates

Your certificate revocation policy specifies the circumstances that justify revoking a certificate. For example, you can specify that certificates must be revoked when employees are terminated or transferred to other business units. You can also specify that certificates must be revoked if users misuse their security privileges or the private keys are compromised (a lost smart card, for instance). For computer certificates, you can specify that certificates must be revoked if the computer is replaced or permanently removed from service, or if the key is compromised.

Policies for Certificate Revocation Lists

Your CRL policies specify where you will distribute CRLs and the publishing schedule for CRLs. For example, you can specify that certain CRLs will be distributed to commonly used public folders and Web pages, as well as to Active Directory. You can also specify that certain CRLs be published daily instead of using the default weekly publication.