From 1 May 2020, the certification authority issuing TCS certificates for the European research and education community will change. The GÉANT association, which manages the pan-European research network and through which the Restena Foundation can provide this service in Luxembourg, has signed a contract with a new certification authority. After more than 5 years with Digicert, Sectigo will therefore be responsible for issuing certificates for the next decade.

New management platform 

The change of commercial provider at the international level has a direct impact on the service provided in Luxembourg by the Restena Foundation, including a new platform for both registering and managing certificates. Named Sectigo Certificates Manager (SCM) and accessible at https://cert-manager.com/customer/restena, the platform will become the main entry point for certificates requested both by institutions (server certificates (SSL/TLS), signature certificates for items/code signing and signature certificates for documents) and by individual users of the Restena Foundation services (client certificates). 

At the same time, the service subscription form incorporating the new registration modalities has been updated. It is to be completed both by new institutions interested in the service and by current subscribers, from some twenty Luxembourg institutions. In order to accompany the latter in the change process, the Restena Foundation organised an online information session on the topic on Friday 3 April 2020.

A free digital certificate service

The TCS certificate service is free of charge and available to any eligible institution. Higher, post-primary and basic education, differentiated education, vocational training and adult education centres, research institutions, cultural institutions, museums and ministries wishing to secure their digital communication channels and associated equipment with digital certificates can contact the Restena Foundation.

All institutions wishing to subscribe to this service will benefit from now on from the platform developed by the Sectigo Certification Authority.