Secrets management refers the handling of digital authentication credentials known as “secrets”. These secrets are discrete and named sets of sensitive information, ranging from user passwords to auto-generated encryption keys, private encryption keys, API keys, application keys, SSH keys, and authorization tokens. Each type serves a specific purpose, such as safeguarding data at rest or in transit, or enabling access to IT resources. The term “Secret” has become firmly established as an industry standard in the realm of Privileged Access Management (PAM).
Challenges to Secrets Management
Secrets management poses significant challenges due to several factors:
- Incomplete visibility and awareness hinder effective oversight of privileged accounts and associated secrets, which often number in the thousands.
- Decentralized management and lack of oversight further compound the issue.
- Hardcoded and default credentials on applications and devices create vulnerabilities. Secrets embedded in DevOps scripts, privileged credentials in cloud and virtualization environments, and broad privileges granted in these environments elevate the risk of unauthorized access.
- Reliance on automated tools that require secrets and the integration of third-party vendor accounts introduce further complexities.
- Concerns about third-party management of secrets further highlight the need for robust oversight.
- Manual secrets management processes and poor hygiene in managing secrets, coupled with siloed management and fragmentation, hinder the establishment of a holistic approach to secrets management.
Importance of Secrets Management
Secrets management plays a vital role in information security by enabling businesses to securely store, transmit, and audit sensitive information, such as passwords, encryption keys, and access tokens. By minimizing human involvement in secret management, organizations can reduce the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access to critical systems. Secrets management also addresses common challenges associated with password reuse, weak storage practices, and lack of secret rotation, which can significantly enhance an organization’s overall security posture.
Secrets management provides additional benefits such as preventing ‘secret sprawl’ by centralizing the management of all secrets, ensuring consistent enforcement of security policies, and providing visibility into the location and usage of secrets throughout their lifecycle. This comprehensive approach to secret management helps organizations avoid the risks associated with isolated and unmanaged secrets, ultimately enhancing data security and mitigating the potential consequences of data theft or manipulation.
Secrets Management Best Practices
To ensure the security of secrets within an organization, it is crucial to implement best practices involving secret discovery, policy establishment, automation, and enforcement. Below are 10 of the most notable best practices for secrets management:
- Discover/identify all types of credentials: Centralize management in a secrets vault.
- Eliminate hardcoded/embedded secrets: Enforce security best practices through API calls and password management.
- Enforce password security best practices: Ensure password length, complexity, uniqueness, expiration, and rotation.
- Apply privileged session monitoring: Log, audit, and monitor privileged sessions for oversight and accountability.
- Extend secrets management to third-parties: Ensure partners and vendors adhere to best practices.
- Implement threat analytics: Analyze secrets usage to detect anomalies and threats.
- Embrace DevSecOps: Integrate security into the DevOps lifecycle and culture.
- Automate the secret management process: This can be achieved through the use of systems to create, manage, distribute, and maintain secrets, thus eliminating human involvement and reducing the risk of error.
- Enforcing secret policies: Mandate compliance with rules, monitoring sessions, and reviewing audit logs.
- Segregate data from secrets: Storing secrets in separate locations provides an extra layer of protection, safeguarding sensitive data from unauthorized access.
Secrets are pivotal in cybersecurity, particularly for non-human applications. The increased prevalence of modern applications, especially those involving application-to-application communication, has amplified the demand for various types of digital secrets.
