Do you store sensitive data in multiple locations? Many people do, either intentionally or unintentionally, but it's not as harmless as you think. You are exposing your system to cyberattacks via secret sprawl.

Secret sprawl reiterates the consequences of not organizing your data. What exactly is secret sprawl? What are the dangers of it, and how can you prevent them?

What Is Secret Sprawl?

A secret in the context of cybersecurity refers to any sensitive information that you can use to access your system such as passwords, usernames, API tokens, etc. These pieces of information are confidential and are meant to stay so.

Secret sprawl is a process of littering your “secrets” all over the place. Let’s take your login credentials for instance, i.e your username and password. You may store them in different locations such as your application’s source code, configuration file, and other applications within your system, so you won’t lose them. After a while, you'll likely lose track of the places you have stored the information...

Why Is Secret Sprawl Dangerous?

Secrets are key tools for authentication and authorization. When they are in your hands as a legitimate owner, you can gain access to a system seamlessly. But when they fall into the wrong hands, you need to be worried due to their sensitive nature.

A secret sprawl poses a threat in numerous ways.

1. Windows for Data Breaches

When you store data in cyberspace, it's your responsibility to secure it. If you leave your data unprotected, cybercriminals can steal it. It's as simple as that.

Having a single piece of sensitive data in multiple locations means you have to secure each location or risk a data breach. It gets even more challenging as you deal with multiple datasets spread across different areas. Unless you have unlimited resources and manpower, you won’t be able to give each of your secrets the security it deserves.

2. Lack of Control

The fewer your data locations, the better your control. A secret sprawl means you store your sensitive information in multiple locations. There’s a probability that you aren’t the only one that accesses those places. By having sensitive data in multiple areas, you expose it to other people who access those areas.

Even if a user doesn’t have malicious intent, they may accidentally expose your data or compromise it. Your lack of control over access is a high-security risk that puts you in a difficult position.

3. Data Inconsistency

Data consistency is key when you are dealing with multiple datasets; otherwise, your results will be inaccurate. With your secrets in various locations, the rate at which you or other people engage with each piece will differ.

For instance, let's say you have your API tokens in four different locations. You might make changes to the token in one location and forget to implement the changes to the ones in the other three. You might even forget that you made any changes. You proceed with work with the impression that the API tokens are the same all over. And when it’s time to make use of them, you experience glitches and inaccuracies.

4. Accessibility Challenges

Accessibility impacts your quality of work and performance. Retrieving the information you need swiftly increases your speed and makes you more competent in your work.

As your secrets spread, knowing where to look for what you need becomes a problem. If you have different pieces of information sprawling, you could lose track of what's where. Before you know it, you’ll be spending a long time looking for data that should be readily accessible.

How Can You Prevent Secret Sprawl?

You know the dangers of a secret sprawl. The next logical question is: how can you prevent it? Here are some helpful tips.

1. Adopt a Centralized Storage System

Having your sensitive information in silos does more harm than good. For every additional copy you create, you open yet another window for possible attack.

A good starting point for preventing a secret sprawl is to adopt a centralized system where you can store all your secrets. The Amazon Web Services (AWS) secrets manager is a good option to consider.

A centralized storage system helps you organize and protect your sensitive data in one place. If you need any information, you know exactly where to look. In the long run, you’ll be more efficient and productive as you’ll be empowered to do your best work.

2. Encrypt Secrets

An effective secret management tool is supposed to provide encryption. Nonetheless, you need to plan for this if it’s not available. Encryption secures your data in such a way that it’s useless to anyone who doesn’t have the decryption key.

The location of the secret is inconsequential. If you encrypt it, it has its individual security and remains uncompromised. However, having it in a secure centralized storage system is an additional security layer that is highly commendable.

3. Implement Secrets Scanning Tools

Secrets sprawling isn’t always intentional. You may not want to litter your sensitive data all over the place, but it could happen accidentally. A lack of visibility also increases sprawling.

A piece of information may already exist in your system, but if you can’t see it, you may create another copy. Sometimes, a secrets management tool can cause a sprawl due to misconfigurations or malfunctions.

An effective way to prevent secret sprawling is to implement a secret scanning tool to detect when your secrets are being duplicated either intentionally or unintentionally.

4. Create Strong Access Controls

Who has access to your secrets? To maintain the privacy of your sensitive data, you must control access to it with effective access controls. Grant access privileges to users on a need-to-know basis. If they don’t have any business with a particular set of information, restrict their access to those areas.

If possible, ensure that you are the only one with unrestricted access. Even when you are working with developers, restrict their access to the areas they are working on, so they don’t have a free pass to all your secrets.

Prevent Secret Sprawling With Full Visibility

The extent of your cybersecurity is a matter of visibility or the lack of it. You can’t secure what you can’t see or aren’t aware of. Secret sprawling will have you putting your sensitive data in locations you may not even remember.

By centralizing your data storage, you’ll have the visibility and control to secure your data effectively. You can account for each dataset and detect anomalies before they escalate.