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What are the best practices for managing secrets in IT automation?

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IT automation is a powerful tool for streamlining tasks, improving efficiency, and reducing errors in system administration. However, it also poses a challenge for managing secrets, such as passwords, keys, tokens, and certificates, that are required for accessing resources and services. How can you ensure that your secrets are stored, transmitted, and used securely and compliantly in your automation workflows? Here are some best practices to follow.

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Fabian Niesen

Consultant, Microsoft Certified Trainer, MCT Regional Lead und Blogger

1 Define your secrets policy

Before you start automating your secrets, you need to have a clear and consistent policy that defines what secrets are, where they are stored, who can access them, how they are rotated, and how they are audited. Your policy should align with your security and compliance requirements, as well as your organizational culture and goals. A good policy will help you avoid confusion, duplication, and inconsistency in your secrets management.

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Champika M Wijerathne

Data Science Undergrad | Certified Cloud Engineer | #BIKE4LIFE
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Before automating secrets, establish a clear policy defining what secrets are, where they're stored, access permissions, rotation procedures, and auditing protocols. Align this policy with security, compliance, and organizational goals to prevent confusion and ensure consistency.

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Achraf LABABSI

Global Infrastructure Manager | Global IT Asset Management Area Manager | DevOps | Network and Cloud System Infrastructure Engineer | Founder & CEO | Professional Fighter
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Identifiez tous les secrets : Identifiez les différents types de secrets tels que les noms d'utilisateur, les mots de passe, les clés d'API, les jetons d'accès, etc. Automatisez la récupération des secrets : Utilisez des outils pour automatiser la récupération des secrets des services de stockage tels que HashiCorp Vault, Azure Key Vault, ou AWS Secrets Manager. Ces outils évitent les erreurs humaines lors de l'entrée manuelle de ces informations. Stockez les secrets en toute sécurité : Stockez les secrets dans un emplacement s?r et chiffré où l'accès est limité aux personnes autorisées. évitez de stocker les secrets dans des fichiers texte non chiffrés, des journaux, ou tout autre endroit non protégé.

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Rakesh Rayasam

Team Lead - System Admin at CRMIT SOLUTIONS PVT LTD
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Use a Dedicated Secrets Management Tool: Implement a dedicated secrets management tool such as HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault. These tools are designed to securely store and manage sensitive information. Avoid Hardcoding Secrets: Never hardcode secrets directly into scripts, configuration files, or source code. Hardcoding makes it easier for attackers to access sensitive information.

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2 Use a dedicated secrets manager

A secrets manager is a software tool that centralizes, encrypts, and controls the access and distribution of your secrets. It also provides features such as automatic rotation, expiration, revocation, and auditing of your secrets. A secrets manager can integrate with your automation tools, such as Ansible, Puppet, Chef, or Terraform, and provide them with the secrets they need at runtime. Using a secrets manager will help you reduce the risk of exposing your secrets in plain text, hard-coding them in scripts, or storing them in insecure locations.

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Champika M Wijerathne

Data Science Undergrad | Certified Cloud Engineer | #BIKE4LIFE
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Employ a dedicated secrets manager tool to centralize, encrypt, and control access to secrets. Integrating with automation tools, such as Ansible or Terraform, ensures secure distribution at runtime. This approach mitigates risks associated with exposing secrets in plain text, hard-coding, or insecure storage.

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Fabian Niesen

Consultant, Microsoft Certified Trainer, MCT Regional Lead und Blogger
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Wir nutzen einem Projekt HashiVault, da k?nnen wir über die PowerShell und die API die Geheimnisse auslesen, wenn der ausführende die notwendigen Rechte im HashiVault hat. Das ist gerade bei langen und Komplexen Geheimnissen praktisch. Wenn die Geheimnisse erzeugt oder erneuert werden, werden die ebenfalls automatisch in HashiVault eingetragen. Eine Ausgabe an den Nutzer findet dabei nicht statt und die Variablen werden direkt danach mit weiteren Zufallsdaten überschrieben.

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3 Apply the principle of least privilege

The principle of least privilege means that you grant the minimum level of access and permissions to your secrets that are necessary for a specific task or role. This way, you limit the exposure and impact of your secrets in case of a breach or misuse. You can apply this principle by using role-based access control (RBAC), encryption keys, or temporary credentials to restrict who can access your secrets and for how long. You can also use policies and rules to define what actions and operations can be performed on your secrets.

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Fabian Niesen

Consultant, Microsoft Certified Trainer, MCT Regional Lead und Blogger
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Mein Standart beim Active Directory Design ist immer für jeden Dienst einen eigene Service im AD zu kreieren. Durch die Kompbination von OUs, Gruppenrichtlinien und Sicherheitseinstellungen k?nnen so die Services in einzelne Silos unterteilt werden. Für jeden dieser Services werden dann Standard Rollen angelegt, die bestimmte Berechtigungen nur für diesen Dienst erhalten, zum Beispiel anmelden per RDP. Hinzu nutze ich ein Tiering Modell (0 = AD und kritische Dienste, 1 = Services und Server, 2= Clientsysteme). Der administrative Zugriff auf die Dienste aus anderen Tier-Ebenen wird dabei unterbunden. Das ganze wird automatisiert per PowerShell angelegt.

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Champika M Wijerathne

Data Science Undergrad | Certified Cloud Engineer | #BIKE4LIFE
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Limit access and permissions for secrets to the minimum necessary for specific tasks or roles. Utilize role-based access control (RBAC), encryption keys, or temporary credentials to restrict access duration. Define policies and rules governing actions on secrets, reducing exposure and impact in case of misuse or breach.

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4 Monitor and audit your secrets activity

To ensure that your secrets are being used appropriately and securely in your automation workflows, you need to monitor and audit their activity. This means that you track and record who accessed your secrets, when, where, how, and why. You can use logs, alerts, reports, or dashboards to collect and analyze this information. Monitoring and auditing your secrets activity will help you detect and respond to any anomalies, incidents, or violations of your secrets policy.

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Champika M Wijerathne

Data Science Undergrad | Certified Cloud Engineer | #BIKE4LIFE
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Implement robust monitoring and auditing mechanisms to track and record secrets activity in automation workflows. Utilize logs, alerts, reports, or dashboards for comprehensive analysis. This proactive approach helps detect anomalies, respond to incidents, and ensures adherence to secrets policies.

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5 Educate and train your team

One of the most important aspects of managing secrets in IT automation is to educate and train your team on the best practices and tools. You need to make sure that your team understands the value and risks of your secrets, the policies and procedures for handling them, and the tools and techniques for integrating them with your automation workflows. You can use documentation, workshops, demos, or feedback sessions to share and reinforce this knowledge. Educating and training your team will help you foster a culture of security and accountability in your IT automation.

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Champika M Wijerathne

Data Science Undergrad | Certified Cloud Engineer | #BIKE4LIFE
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Promote a culture of security and accountability by educating and training your team on secrets management best practices. Ensure understanding of the value and risks associated with secrets, familiarize them with handling procedures, and provide knowledge on integrating secrets securely into automation workflows. Documentation, workshops, demos, and feedback sessions are effective tools for knowledge dissemination.

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Paul Madueno

Senior Staff DevOps Engineer | SRE | Azure Cloud | Automation | Integration
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In my experience, interactive workshops and competitions amongst teams is a great way to keep team members motivated. I have used this method when training engineers to use monitoring tools. I use live "do and learn" sessions and then assign tasks/projects to teams and elicit fun competition and collaboration.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What are the best practices for managing secrets in IT automation?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your secrets policy

2 Use a dedicated secrets manager

3 Apply the principle of least privilege

4 Monitor and audit your secrets activity

5 Educate and train your team

6 Here’s what else to consider

System Administration

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What are the best practices for managing secrets in IT automation?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your secrets policy

2 Use a dedicated secrets manager

3 Apply the principle of least privilege

4 Monitor and audit your secrets activity

5 Educate and train your team

6 Here’s what else to consider

System Administration

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