Secrets management (for example, Systems Manager, AWS Secrets Manager)

What is AWS Secrets Manager and how does it compare to Systems Manager Parameter Store in handling sensitive information?

AWS Secrets Manager is a service designed specifically for storing, retrieving, and managing secrets, such as database credentials, API keys, and other sensitive information. It helps you protect access to your applications, services, and IT resources without the upfront investment and on-going maintenance costs of operating your own infrastructure. Secrets Manager has built-in integration for rotating secrets safely without code changes. Compared to Systems Manager Parameter Store, AWS Secrets Manager is more feature-rich for secrets management, including automatic secret rotation, secret versioning, and integration with Amazon RDS.

Describe how AWS Secrets Manager enables the rotation of secrets?

AWS Secrets Manager supports automatic secret rotation using Lambda functions. When configuring rotation, you can select a pre-built Lambda function for common databases like RDS or create your own. The service triggers the Lambda function on a defined schedule, which then handles the rotation of the secret, ensuring that the new secret value is in place and that dependent services are updated to use the new value, all without any application downtime.

Can you explain what KMS is and how it’s used in conjunction with AWS Secrets Manager or Systems Manager Parameter Store?

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to create and control the encryption keys used to encrypt your data. In conjunction with AWS Secrets Manager or Systems Manager Parameter Store, KMS keys are used to encrypt the secrets or parameters at rest. When you store a secret, you can choose to encrypt it with a KMS key, and only entities with the necessary permissions to that KMS key can decrypt and access the secret.

How can you securely retrieve secrets in AWS Secrets Manager within your application code?

Application code can securely retrieve secrets from AWS Secrets Manager by using the appropriate AWS SDK. The application needs to have the necessary IAM permissions to access the secrets. The SDK handles the process of calling the Secrets Manager APIs, such as `GetSecretValue`, and can automatically decrypt the secret using the customer’s KMS key. The code can then use the secret, such as a database password, to perform operations that require that secret.

What strategies would you suggest for managing cross-account access to secrets stored in AWS Secrets Manager?

Cross-account access to secrets can be managed through resource-based policies in AWS Secrets Manager. You would configure the resource policy on a secret to allow principals from another AWS account to access or modify the secret, specifying the necessary permissions. IAM roles with trust relationships can also be used to delegate access between accounts, with the role assuming having the required permissions to the secret.

If a company is subject to compliance audits, how can AWS Secrets Manager help ensure compliance regarding secret-related operations?

AWS Secrets Manager helps with compliance by providing a centralized service to manage secrets with fine-grained access control. It allows for automatic rotation of secrets, which can be a compliance requirement. The service also integrates with AWS CloudTrail, which logs all access and rotation events for each secret, providing an audit trail that can be used during compliance evaluations to prove that secret management is handled according to the regulatory standards.

How would you design a high availability and disaster recovery strategy for critical secrets managed by AWS Secrets Manager?

For high availability, AWS Secrets Manager stores the encrypted secrets redundantly across multiple Availability Zones (AZs). For disaster recovery, one should regularly back up the secret rotation Lambda functions and resource-based policies, and replicate the secrets in a separate region if necessary. Implementing a multi-region strategy for critical systems, including replicating secrets to other regions, also contributes to disaster recovery preparedness.

Can you discuss how you would migrate secrets from an on-premises secrets management system to AWS Secrets Manager?

Migrating secrets from an on-premises system to AWS Secrets Manager involves extracting the secrets from the current system, potentially scripting the transformation to match the format expected by AWS Secrets Manager, and then batch-importing the secrets through the AWS CLI or SDKs. It is crucial to maintain secrecy during the migration, so using secure channels and encryption throughout the process is essential. You should also implement an auditing mechanism to ensure that all secrets have been successfully migrated and validated.

Explain the benefits of using AWS Secrets Manager over hardcoding secrets in application code or configuration files.

Hardcoding secrets in application code or configuration files is a significant security risk as it can lead to accidental exposure of secrets through source code repositories or insecure file transfers. AWS Secrets Manager offers a secure and centralized solution where secrets are encrypted, access is controlled through fine-grained IAM policies, and activity is logged by AWS CloudTrail. Additionally, it simplifies the process of rotating secrets, which can be complex and error-prone when done manually.

Can AWS Secrets Manager be used together with other AWS services like RDS or DocumentDB to manage database credentials? If so, how?

Yes, AWS Secrets Manager can be used with AWS RDS or DocumentDB to manage database credentials. It provides native support for rotating credentials of these databases. You can set up a secret that holds database credentials and configure the rotation using a pre-defined Lambda function template that is provided by AWS Secrets Manager. This ensures that database credentials are rotated automatically without manual intervention, enhancing security.

How does AWS Secrets Manager help with the least privilege principle and fine-grained permissions?

AWS Secrets Manager helps with the least privilege principle by allowing administrators to assign fine-grained permissions using IAM policies. These policies can specify who or what can access specific secrets or actions within Secrets Manager. Additionally, resource-based policies can be applied directly to secrets for more granular access control. Secrets Manager encourages the practice of providing only the required permissions to perform a task, hence following the least privilege principle.

Is there any native functionality within AWS Secrets Manager to monitor the use of secrets and send alerts on suspicious activities?

While AWS Secrets Manager itself does not have native alerting functionality, it integrates seamlessly with AWS CloudTrail and Amazon CloudWatch. CloudTrail can log all API calls to AWS Secrets Manager, capturing each read or write. These logs can be monitored and analyzed with CloudWatch alarms, which can trigger alerts when anomalous patterns or suspicious activities are detected. This setup enables effective monitoring and alerting for secret usage within AWS environments.