Case Study: KCF Technologies improves OpenVPN security with SmallStep

KCF Technologies secures 600+ manufacturing locations with SmallStep

KCF Technologies, a machine health company, needed to improve the security of its OpenVPN connections for embedded devices that transmit data from customer manufacturing sites. Their challenge was to replace insecure password-based authentication with a more robust, certificate-based method. They turned to the vendor Smallstep and its open-source certificate authority, step-ca, to address this need.

By implementing Smallstep's toolchain, KCF Technologies automated certificate issuance using various provisioners and hosted the solution on a highly available AWS infrastructure. The Smallstep solution eliminated complex password management, improved collaboration with the hardware team, and made it easier for customers' IT departments to manage firewall rules. The company has seen a "Gold Star" security improvement for its product and plans to extend the use of Smallstep certificates to secure remote management of its base stations.

KCF Technologies