10 ways to secure your application secrets in the cloud

Cloud-based development describes the process of constructing, testing, and deploying software entirely within the cloud. Cloud service providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, each have competitive development environments that allow dynamic resource scaling so small platforms don’t need to build and maintain their own web infrastructure.

With more platforms switching to or being developed on cloud-based services, the market is estimated to reach more than $500 billion by 2027, according to this PR Newswire report.

Still, there are significant challenges when it comes to cloud-based computing. To begin, migrating current services to cloud-based infrastructure requires a skilled, adaptable team that is willing and able to learn the ins and outs of these new services. Beyond migration, improperly developed cloud-based environments pose significant security threats and challenges to data protection and legal compliance.

Essential approaches to securing application secrets in the cloud

Principle of least privilege

• Human error is still among the leading causes of data breaches worldwide. The Principle of Least Privilege means that developers can only access exactly the resources they require to perform their jobs, not resources across the entire platform. This way, if their access credentials become compromised, the damage is mitigated to only those resources they were able to access. This also helps in identifying where the breach came from and addressing the incorrect practice quickly.

Granular role-based access control services

• Role-based access control means tailoring the level of access of developers, managers, and other teams to fit the exact needs of their position. To employ RBAC by the principle of least privilege, choosing a secret management solution that carefully allows granular control to customize secrets access across DevOps is essential. Doppler’s Team Management and Custom Roles allow your development team to organize and control access quickly and dynamically.

Within RBAC, create User Groups

• Rather than manually update developer permissions individually across an entire DevOps team, create User Groups with specific permissions and assign developers to those groups. User Groups allow development teams to allocate developers to new projects quickly and securely, allowing your DevSecOps team to employ RBAC at scale. Check out Doppler’s User Group creation and control tools here.

Implement consistent secrets organization

• Secrets management tools provide centralized storage of secrets to help mitigate the dangers of secrets sprawl across your application environments, whether it's development, staging, or production.

Use secrets managers to secure complex CI/CD pipelines

• Many organizations using CI/CD pipelines operate with multiple cloud providers, verification services, and other third-party services requiring complex and accurate secrets deployment. This becomes even more challenging and vulnerable at scale. A Secrets Manager allows dynamic secrets deployment in the complex, fast-paced CI/CD pipeline. Check out Doppler’s list of integrations to see how we can declutter your CI/CD.

Enforce routine secrets rotations

• The longer a secret remains in use, the larger its attack surface is for potential hackers. Consistently rotating secrets should be done regularly to limit threat potential. Doppler’s automatic secrets rotation services allow you to schedule regular rotations, instantly sync rotated secrets across development environments, and check detailed audit logs to track and confirm successful rotation.

Use unique keys for different customers, even for the same kind and degree of access

• Since permissions for pre-shared keys cannot be updated individually once they are shared, it is vital to use a unique key for each customer accessing the same API. As customer scopes change over time, it follows with the principle of least privilege that these keys only grant the specific customer the access they require and do not allow other customers access beyond their need.

Consistent use and access policies across DevOps that are enforced with secrets management tools

• As platforms expand, so do their development teams. Maintaining clear and consistent policies regarding the use of secrets helps a DevSecOps team maintain security at scale. Comprehensive communication and forward-thinking policies allow for ease of expansion. Using secrets managers makes this process simpler and more secure, ensuring that secrets management policies scale as the platform and its development team expand.

Thorough audit trail to track all secrets access and requests

• Continuous monitoring of secrets access helps detect breaches and vulnerabilities quickly. Coupled with a comprehensive log of secrets used, a DevSecOps team can quickly identify and rotate compromised credentials, mitigating some of the potential damage caused by a breach. Doppler provides detailed activity logs to allow DevSecOps to track and correct the errors that caused the breach.

Remove secrets from unprotected locations, including code and config files

• Though hardcoding secrets might save time running simple and automated tasks, it introduces significant vulnerabilities. Should a malicious agent gain access to the hardcoded secret or the automated script using that secret, they can use it to access other parts of the platform. Hardcoded secrets are also much more challenging to rotate, increasing their attack surface.

Use Doppler to secure your cloud secrets

Securing application secrets in the cloud is no longer just a recommendation; it’s rapidly becoming essential. Proper security practices have several varied applications beyond preventing cyberattacks. They help mitigate damage, discover and remedy vulnerabilities, maintain legal compliance with industry and international regulations, and help build and maintain trust in competitive markets.

Employing the right secrets management solution can help your DevSecOps team quickly implement better security practices. Secrets managers like Doppler are crucial for securing your development lifecycle, especially as DevOps teams grow and integrate more third-party applications. Doppler’s tools and integrations enable teams to implement these practices, ensuring secrets management through every stage of the development lifecycle.

Try a demo or check out our Docs to see if Doppler is the right solution for your team!