What is Secret Management?
1 min read
Updated 2026-02-05
The practice of securely storing, accessing, and managing sensitive credentials like API keys, passwords, and certificates. Tools include HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager.
Understanding Secret Management
Secrets should never be hardcoded or stored in version control. Secret management solutions provide secure storage, access control, audit logging, and automatic rotation. They integrate with applications to inject secrets at runtime.
Examples
- Storing database credentials in HashiCorp Vault
- Using AWS Secrets Manager for API keys
- Environment variables injected by Kubernetes secrets
- Certificate management for TLS
How to Prevent
- Never commit secrets to version control
- Use a dedicated secret management solution
- Implement secret rotation policies
- Audit secret access
- Use least privilege for secret access
- Scan repositories for accidentally committed secrets
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