🔒 Security & Secrets Management

Strong security isn’t optional; it’s a prerequisite for trust. Whenever possible, I eliminate secrets entirely by using managed identities or service principals for authentication. Managed identities mean credentials are issued and rotated by the platform, so there are no keys to leak or rotate manually. If a service can’t use a managed identity, we store its secrets in a secure vault rather than in code or configuration files.

Secrets that do exist must be rotated regularly. Rotating access keys or API tokens limits the window in which a compromised credential can be abused. Automation is key: we set up scheduled rotations that generate new secrets, update dependent services, and decommission old secrets without downtime. Blue/green rotation patterns allow us to roll out a new secret while the old one is still valid, then cut over when everything is ready.

Secret management is part of our CI/CD pipeline. We never hardcode secrets into repositories; instead, we reference environment‑specific values from secure stores. We scan our codebase and configuration for accidental secret leaks and integrate static analysis tools to detect vulnerabilities. Access controls enforce least privilege: only the services and people who need to use a secret can read it, and their access is logged and audited.

Practising good secret hygiene requires discipline and tooling. We document rotation schedules, ownership, and fallback procedures. We train the team on secure patterns and regularly review secret usage. By treating secrets as a first‑class concern, we reduce the risk of breaches and build systems we can trust.