In the previous article, we discussed in detail how ACME Device Attestation is a more advanced and secure technology when compared to SCEP for Zero Trust.
In this blog article, we’ll discuss the financial benefits (Return On Investment(ROI)) of shifting from the legacy SCEP to the modern ACME Device Attestation based Zero Trust.
Why “Simple” is Costing You More Than You Think
According to the 2025 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the global average cost of a data breach stands at $4.44 million. While this is a slight decrease from the 2024 record high, costs in the United States hit an all-time record of $10.22 million per incident, driven by higher regulatory fines and detection costs.
In 2026, the cost of a data breach is expected to average over $4.8 million. For many enterprises, the entry point for these breaches isn’t a complex hack, but a compromised SCEP challenge password or a cloned software certificate. Upgrading to ACME-based Device Attestation isn’t just a security move—it’s a financial one.
For two decades, SCEP (Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol) was the industry workhorse. But in a world of sophisticated supply-chain attacks and mobile-first workforces, “Simple” has become “Dangerous.”
If you are still using SCEP to onboard devices to your VPN, Wi-Fi, or SaaS apps, you aren’t practicing Zero Trust—you’re practicing “Best-Guess” Security.
SCEP certificates can be extracted and moved to attacker machines. Hardware-attested certificates are non-exportable, addressing the most common attack vector (Phishing), which alone cost organizations an average of $4.8 million in 2025.
2025 Data Breach Cost Drivers
| Category | 2025 Global Average Cost | The Legacy SCEP Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Detection & Escalation | $1.47M | SCEP provides zero visibility into device hardware “DNA.” |
| Lost Business Impact | $1.38M | Credential-based breaches take up to 186 days to identify. |
| Post-Breach Response | $1.20M | Manual remediation of “ghost” devices is slow and expensive. |
Source: IBM Security, “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025.”
1. Eliminating the “Hidden Costs” of SCEP
SCEP may be “Simple” in name, but it creates a massive operational burden:
- The Helpdesk Drain: Manual certificate troubleshooting and “shared secret” resets account for up to 30% of IT admin time.
- The Cost of Outages: One expired certificate on a VPN gateway can halt productivity for thousands of employees. Manual tracking in spreadsheets is an insurance policy that eventually fails.
- The “Shadow” Infrastructure: Maintaining legacy SCEP proxies and NDES (Network Device Enrollment Service) servers costs thousands in annual maintenance and licensing fees.
The BastionXP Payback: By automating the entire lifecycle via ACME, organizations typically see a 90% reduction in certificate-related support tickets within the first 6 months.
2. Drastic Risk Reduction (The Cyber Insurance Factor)
Insurers are increasingly demanding hardware-backed identity as a prerequisite for coverage.
- Phishing-Proofing: SCEP certificates can be extracted and moved to attacker machines. Hardware-attested certificates are non-exportable.
- Preventing “Ghost” Devices: SCEP allows anyone with the password to enroll a device. Attestation ensures only verified, corporate-owned silicon (TPM/Secure Enclave) can join your network.
The ROI Statistic: Organizations implementing hardware-rooted device health checks can reduce successful device-level breaches by up to 95%, potentially saving millions in remediation costs.
3. Scalability Without Overhead
As your fleet grows, SCEP complexity scales linearly with it. BastionXP scales exponentially without adding headcount.
- Zero-Touch Onboarding: Deploy 1,000 laptops as easily as one. ACME manages the attestation and issuance silently in the background.
- Short-Lived Security: Traditional SCEP certificates often last for years because they are hard to rotate. BastionXP issues short-lived certificates that rotate automatically, drastically shrinking your window of vulnerability without increasing the workload.
That is a critical point. While security is the primary driver, the financial efficiency of hardware-rooted identity is often what gets the budget approved.
By binding private keys to the device’s silicon (TPM/Secure Enclave) and automating the process via ACME, you aren’t just locking doors—you’re removing the expensive, manual “security tax” that legacy systems like SCEP impose.
ROI Comparison at a Glance
| Metric | Legacy SCEP | BastionXP ACME Attestation |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Breach Risk | High (Exportable keys/Shared secrets) | Near Zero (Hardware-bound identity) |
| Admin Labor per 1k Devices | ~150 hours/year | ~5 hours/year |
| User Productivity | Interrupted by manual renewals | Seamless (Zero-touch background auto-renewal) |
| Infrastructure Cost | High (NDES, Proxies, Windows Servers) | Low (Modern, cloud-native API) |
Stop Paying the “Legacy Tax”
Continuing to use SCEP is like paying a monthly fee for a security system that doesn’t lock the back door. BastionXP provides a modern, automated, and hardware-verified identity layer that pays for itself by preventing breaches and reclaiming IT time.