Secrets Management

Secrets are the keys to your kingdom: API tokens, database credentials, encryption keys, certificates. A single leaked secret can compromise your entire infrastructure. Yet many organizations still store secrets in environment variables, config files, or worse—hardcoded in source code.

Modern secrets management goes beyond simple storage. It provides dynamic secret generation, automatic rotation, fine-grained access control, and comprehensive audit logging. The goal is to minimize the blast radius when (not if) a secret is compromised.

This guide covers the leading secrets management platforms and teaches you how to implement secure secrets workflows in your DevOps pipelines.

What You'll Learn

This guide consists of the following parts:

1. Secrets Management Fundamentals - Why secrets management matters, threat models, and core concepts
2. HashiCorp Vault - The industry standard for secrets management, dynamic secrets, and PKI
3. AWS Secrets Manager - Native AWS secrets with rotation and cross-account access
4. Azure Key Vault - Microsoft's secrets, keys, and certificates management service

Why Dedicated Secrets Management?

Consider these common anti-patterns:

• Secrets in .env files committed to git
• Shared credentials across environments (dev/staging/prod)
• Static credentials that never rotate
• No audit trail of who accessed what secret
• Secrets exposed in CI/CD logs

Each of these creates risk. A dedicated secrets manager addresses all of them:

Problem	Solution
Secrets in code	Centralized, encrypted storage
Shared credentials	Per-environment, per-service secrets
Static credentials	Dynamic secrets with short TTLs
No audit trail	Comprehensive access logging
Log exposure	Just-in-time secret retrieval

Choosing a Secrets Manager

Feature	Vault	AWS Secrets Manager	Azure Key Vault
Dynamic secrets	Excellent	Limited	Limited
Multi-cloud	Yes	AWS only	Azure-focused
Self-hosted option	Yes	No	No
PKI/Certificates	Built-in	Via ACM	Built-in
Learning curve	Steep	Low	Low
Cost	Free (OSS)	Per-secret/API call	Per-operation

Choose Vault if: You need multi-cloud support, dynamic secrets, or full control over your secrets infrastructure.

Choose AWS Secrets Manager if: You're AWS-native and want simple integration with RDS, Lambda, and other AWS services.

Choose Azure Key Vault if: You're in the Microsoft ecosystem and need tight integration with Azure services and Active Directory.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes you have:

• Basic understanding of authentication and authorization concepts
• Experience with at least one cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines
• Command-line proficiency

Time Investment

• Quick start: 1-2 hours (basic setup and first secret)
• Production setup: 1-2 days (HA, policies, integration)
• Mastery: Ongoing (dynamic secrets, PKI, advanced patterns)

Let's secure your secrets!