secret management
compound.compound. the way a company or computer system keeps private information safe. It involves controlling who can see passwords, digital keys, and other sensitive data.
compound. the systematic process of managing digital authentication credentials, such as passwords, API keys, and certificates, to ensure they are stored and accessed securely. Often involves the use of specialized software to automate the rotation and distribution of these credentials.
Good secret management keeps our passwords safe.
The engineering team implemented a new secret management tool to prevent developers from accidentally sharing API keys in their code.
Robust secret management is essential for modern cloud infrastructure, as it centralizes the control of sensitive credentials and provides an audit trail for every access request made by an application.
A compound formed from the Middle English secret, derived via Old French from the Latin secretus (set apart, withdrawn), and management, from the Italian maneggiare (to handle). The term emerged as a distinct technical collocation within systems administration to categorise the handling of non-human credentials.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Commonly used in the context of cybersecurity and software development; often refers to both the practice and the software tools used.
Last updated July 22, 2026