A major, industry-wide change is coming that will affect how the University of Michigan manages online security. Beginning in March 2026, new global standards from the Certificate Authority/Browser (CA/B) Forum will gradually reduce the lifespan of TLS/SSL digital certificates, critical tools for authenticating websites and securing data communication. By March 2029, certificates will last only 47 days – down from today’s 398.
Why does this matter?
TLS/SSL certificates are the backbone of encrypted web connections, keeping user data safe and maintaining trust in U-M digital services. Shorter lifespans mean certificates must be renewed more frequently, making manual management risky and labor-intensive. An expired certificate could result in website downtime, broken applications, and a flurry of unhappy emails in your inbox.
Who must act?
IT staff across ITS, all U-M campuses, and Michigan Medicine — as well as vendors who depend on U-M issued certificates — are most affected, especially if you manually obtain and renew certificates.
What should you do now?
ITS strongly recommends ensuring all IT systems and services that rely on certificates obtain and manage them using ACME (using certbot or another ACME client). If certificates are manually managed and ACME is not feasible, please reach out to incommon-certificate-service@umich.edu for other options. ITS offers several ACME and non-ACME options for automated certificate management and is ramping up support: updated documentation, office hours, and ongoing communications will guide units through the transition.
SSL Lifespan Timeline:
- Today: 398 days
- March 15, 2026: 200 days (no new certificates through WASUP, only renewals)
- March 15, 2027: 100 days (WASUP service retires)
- March 15, 2029: 47 days
Bottom line: Don’t let your certificates expire and sink your site; move to automated management now! For questions, support, or project details, contact the ITS Web Hosting team at incommon-certificate-service@umich.edu or check out upcoming documentation and office hours.
