Company
Date Published
Author
Roopesh Chandran
Word count
1444
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

This summary discusses the importance of using dynamic secrets, also known as ephemeral or just-in-time secrets, to minimize the risk of credential theft. It explains how HashiCorp Vault can be used to issue short-lived credentials for a PostgreSQL database and in a GitLab CI pipeline. The article provides two practical scenarios: one that shows how to configure and use the database secrets engine with Vault to create ephemeral database users with a limited lifespan, and another example that demonstrates how to retrieve static vs. dynamic secrets in GitLab CI. By using dynamic secrets, organizations can reduce the attack window if a secret becomes compromised, as these credentials automatically expire after a set TTL. This approach aligns with zero trust principles and improves operational efficiency.