Secrets management is the set of practices, tools, and policies used to securely store, access, distribute, and rotate sensitive credentials throughout the software development lifecycle.

A "secret" is any piece of data that grants access to a system or data. This includes API keys, database passwords, encryption keys, OAuth tokens, TLS certificates, SSH keys, and service account credentials. Without proper management, these secrets become the weakest link in your security posture.

Modern secrets management solutions provide a centralized, encrypted vault with fine-grained access control, audit logging, automatic rotation, and programmatic access via APIs - replacing the old pattern of hardcoding credentials in config files, environment variables, or source code.