Secret rotation is the process of regularly replacing credentials (passwords, API keys, certificates, tokens) with new ones to limit the window of exploitation if a secret is compromised — and to comply with security policies requiring periodic rotation.
⚙️ How Does It Work?
Secrets managers (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, CyberArk) automate rotation: generating new credentials, updating the secrets store, notifying dependent applications, and invalidating old credentials — all without service disruption.
📍 Where Is It Used?
Every system with credentials — service accounts, API keys, database passwords, certificates, SSH keys. Especially critical for privileged accounts and machine credentials.
💡 Real-World Example
A company has 2,000 service account passwords. Manually rotating them takes 3 months per cycle. CyberArk automates rotation: passwords are rotated every 30 days, dependent applications are automatically updated via API, and rotation status is reported in the compliance dashboard.
🔗 Related Terms
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