What to Do If You’ve Lost Your Private Key

Losing your private key isn’t ideal, but it’s also a far cry from disaster. If SSL.com issued your certificate, rest assured that you’re covered, as we offer free certificate re-issuance for any certificate you’ve purchased from us at any time during its valid term.

When Should You Reissue Your Certificate?

Think of your SSL certificate as a high-security lock. If the key is lost or compromised, you’ll want to change it just as you’d change a lock if an employee left with access or if there was a break-in.

Scenarios where you should reissue (or “re-key”) your certificate:

• A possible or confirmed security breach on the server or device storing the private key
• A team member with access to the private key leaves your organization
• The private key file is deleted, lost, or corrupted
• You follow a regular security schedule for rotating keys

Re-keying ensures ongoing protection of your encrypted communications.

Note: When re-keying, you’ll need to generate a new Certificate Signing Request (CSR) using a brand-new private key. Be sure to use the same details from your original certificate request.

Important Reminder About Private Keys

Your private key stays with you. SSL.com never sees it and you should never send it to anyone, including us.

How to Generate a New CSR

If you’re using Windows, you can download our free SSL Manager tool to generate a new CSR quickly. We also have step-by-step guides located in our knowledge base to help walk you through the process.

Still have questions?

The SSL.com team is here for you. Reach out to our specialists anytime:

• Live chat: at SSL.com
• Email: support@ssl.com