+I-SD-B Stream B: Secret Management
---+I-SD-1-B Protect application secrets in configuration and code
---+I-SD-2-B Include application secrets during deployment
---+I-SD-3-B Enforce lifecycle management of application secrets

I-SD-B Stream B: Secret Management

As the secure execution of any software system requires credentials, this stream ensures proper handling of these sensitive data elements within the organization's environment.

1. Prehľad

I-SD-1-B Protect application secrets in configuration and code

Maturity level 1 objective of the practice: Deployment processes are fully documented.

Benefit: Defined and limited access to your production secrets

Short description: Introduce basic protection measures to limit access to your production secrets.

Developers should not have access to secrets or credentials for production environments. Have a mechanism in place to adequately protect production secrets, for instance by (i) having specific persons adding them to relevant configuration files upon deployment (the separation of duty principle) or (ii) by encrypting the production secrets contained in the configuration files upfront.

Do not use production secrets in configuration files for development or testing environments, as such environments may have a significantly lower security posture. Similarly, do not keep secrets unprotected in configuration files stored in code repositories.

Store sensitive credentials and secrets for production systems with encryption-at-rest at all times. Consider using a purpose-built tool for this. Handle key management carefully so only personnel with responsibility for production deployments are able to access this data.

Results

  • result1
  • result2

Metrics

  • metric1
  • metric2

Costs

TBS.

Personnel

  • Developer
  • Administrator
  • Security Engineer
I-SD-2-B Include application secrets during deployment

Maturity level 2 objective of the practice: Deployment processes include security verification milestones.

Benefit: Detection of potential leakage of production secrets

Short description: Inject secrets dynamically during the deployment process from hardened storage and audit all human access to them.

Have an automated process to add credentials and secrets to configuration files during the deployment process to respective stages. This way, developers and deployers do not see or handle those sensitive values.

Implement checks that detect the presence of secrets in code repositories and files, and run them periodically. Configure tools to look for known strings and unknown high entropy strings. In systems such as code repositories, where there is a history, include the versions in the checks. Mark potential secrets you discover as sensitive values, and remove them where appropriate. If you cannot remove them from a historic file in a code repository, for example, you may need to refresh the value on the system that consumes the secret. This way, if an attacker discovers the secret, it will not be useful to them.

Make the system used to store and process the secrets and credentials robust from a security perspective. Encrypt all secrets at rest and in transit. Users who configure this system and the secrets it contains are subject to the principle of least privilege. For example, a developer might need to manage the secrets for a development environment, but not a user acceptance test or production environment.

Results

  • result1
  • result2

Metrics

  • metric1
  • metric2

Costs

TBS.

Personnel

  • Administrator
  • Developer
  • Security Engineer
I-SD-3-B Enforce lifecycle management of application secrets

Maturity level 3 objective of the practice: Deployment process is fully automated and incorporates automated verification of all critical milestones.

Benefit: Minimized possibility and timely detection of production secret abuse

Short description: Improve the lifecycle of application secrets by regularly generating them and by ensuring proper use.

Implement lifecycle management for production secrets, and ensure the generation of new secrets as much as possible, and for every application instance. The use of secrets per application instance ensures that unexpected application behavior can be traced back and properly analyzed. Tools can help in automatically and seamlessly updating the secrets in all relevant places upon change.

Ensure that all access to secrets (both reading and writing) is logged in a central infrastructure. Review these logs regularly to identify unexpected behavior and perform proper analysis to understand why this happened. Feed issues and root causes into the defect management practice to make sure that the organization will resolve any unacceptable situations.

Results

  • result1
  • result2

Metrics

  • metric1
  • metric2

Costs

TBS.

Personnel

  • Administrator
  • Security Engineer

1.1 Odkazy

1.2 Identifikované požiadavky

1.3 Súvisiace predpisy

2. Identifikované požiadavky

Požiadavky

3. Súvisiace predpisy

Predpisy
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