A method of automated management of security certificates for a plurality of network connected devices, by a computer operated device manager comprising a computer processor, the method comprising: retrieving, by the computer processor, a root certificate from a simple certificate enrollment protocol (SCEP) server; accepting a challenge password for a device certificate that will be assigned to each of the plurality of network connected devices; obtaining, by the computer processor, the device certificates from the SCEP server for each of the plurality of network connected devices using the challenge password; validating, by the computer processor, the device certificates for each of the plurality of network connected devices by comparison to the root certificate; storing the device certificates for each of the plurality of network connected devices in a database; automatically periodically polling according to a schedule, by the computer processor, the device certificates on the plurality of network connected devices; querying, by the computer processor, the plurality of network connected devices for a status of their respective device certificates; determining, by the computer processor, whether the status of one of the device certificates for one of the plurality of network connected devices is within a predetermined time until an expiration of validity; automatically extracting, by the computer processor, a saved copy of said device certificate from storage in the database in response to the status being within the predetermined time until expiration of validity; renewing, by the computer processor, the status of said device certificate through the SCEP server; and assigning, by the computer processor, said device certificate on to the one of the plurality of network connected devices. retrieving, by the computer processor, a root certificate from a simple certificate enrollment protocol (SCEP) server; accepting a challenge password for a device certificate that will be assigned to each of the plurality of network connected devices; obtaining, by the computer processor, the device certificates from the SCEP server for each of the plurality of network connected devices using the challenge password; validating, by the computer processor, the device certificates for each of the plurality of network connected devices by comparison to the root certificate; storing the device certificates for each of the plurality of network connected devices in a database; automatically periodically polling according to a schedule, by the computer processor, the device certificates on the plurality of network connected devices; querying, by the computer processor, the plurality of network connected devices for a status of their respective device certificates; determining, by the computer processor, whether the status of one of the device certificates for one of the plurality of network connected devices is within a predetermined time until an expiration of validity; automatically extracting, by the computer processor, a saved copy of said device certificate from storage in the database in response to the status being within the predetermined time until expiration of validity; renewing, by the computer processor, the status of said device certificate through the SCEP server; and assigning, by the computer processor, said device certificate on to the one of the plurality of network connected devices. <EOS>