Hashicorp Vault
Hashicorp Vault is an open-source tool for securely storing, accessing, and managing secrets such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and encryption keys. It provides a centralized platform with fine-grained access control, audit logging, and dynamic secret generation for applications and infrastructure. Vault integrates with various authentication methods and backends to ensure secrets are protected and only accessible to authorized users or systems.
Developers should use Vault when building applications that require secure handling of sensitive data, especially in cloud-native or microservices architectures where secrets management becomes complex. It is essential for compliance with security standards (e.g., PCI-DSS, HIPAA) and for automating secret rotation, reducing the risk of exposure. Use cases include securing database credentials, managing TLS certificates, and enabling encryption-as-a-service in distributed systems.