Secrets Management System

A Secrets Management System is a centralized cryptographic management security control system that can support secrets management tasks.

• AKA: Credential Management System, Secret Store, Key and Secret Management System.
• Context:
  • It can typically store Cryptographic Secrets through secrets management system encrypted vaults.
  • It can typically rotate Access Credentials through secrets management system automated rotation.
  • It can typically audit Secret Accesses through secrets management system activity logging.
  • It can typically enforce Access Policys through secrets management system permission controls.
  • It can typically prevent Secret Sprawls through secrets management system centralization.
  • ...
  • It can often provide Dynamic Secrets for secrets management system just-in-time access.
  • It can often integrate Hardware Security Modules for secrets management system key protection.
  • It can often support Secret Versionings for secrets management system rollback capability.
  • It can often enable Break-Glass Accesses for secrets management system emergency procedures.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Basic Secrets Management System to being an Enterprise Secrets Management System, depending on its secrets management system scale capability.
  • It can range from being a Static Secrets Management System to being a Dynamic Secrets Management System, depending on its secrets management system credential generation.
  • It can range from being a Standalone Secrets Management System to being an Integrated Secrets Management System, depending on its secrets management system ecosystem connectivity.
  • It can range from being a Single-Cloud Secrets Management System to being a Multi-Cloud Secrets Management System, depending on its secrets management system platform coverage.
  • It can range from being a Developer-Focused Secrets Management System to being an Operations-Focused Secrets Management System, depending on its secrets management system use case orientation.
  • ...
  • It can integrate with CI/CD Pipelines for secrets management system deployment automation.
  • It can connect to Identity Providers for secrets management system authentication federation.
  • It can interface with Application Runtimes for secrets management system secret injection.
  • It can communicate with Monitoring Platforms for secrets management system anomaly detection.
  • It can synchronize with Configuration Management Tools for secrets management system infrastructure provisioning.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Cloud-Native Secrets Management Systems, such as:
    • AWS Secrets Manager, providing secret storage and rotation in AWS.
    • Azure Key Vault, managing keys and secrets in Microsoft Azure.
    • Google Secret Manager, handling secrets in Google Cloud Platform.
  • Open-Source Secrets Management Systems, such as:
    • HashiCorp Vault, offering multi-cloud secret management capabilities.
    • CyberArk Conjur, providing DevOps-focused secret management.
    • Kubernetes Secrets, managing secrets in container orchestration.
  • Enterprise Secrets Management Systems, such as:
    • CyberArk Privileged Access Security, comprehensive PAM and secrets management.
    • Thycotic Secret Server, enterprise-grade password and secret management.
    • BeyondTrust Password Safe, privileged password and session management.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Password Manager Application, which manages personal passwords not infrastructure secrets.
  • Configuration File, which stores settings openly not encrypted secrets.
  • Environment Variable, which exposes values in process memory not secure storage.
  • Source Code Repository, which versions code not manages runtime secrets.
• See: Privileged Access Management, Key Management System, Certificate Management, DevSecOps Practice, Zero Trust Security, Credential Rotation, Secret Sprawl, Infrastructure as Code, Cloud Security, Compliance Requirement, Encryption Key Management.

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