Secure and manage secrets, credentials and certificates across cloud and hybrid environments
Overview
Centralized secrets management for cloud and hybrid workloads
Securely create, store, rotate and govern static and dynamic secrets, credentials and certificates for applications and services. Choose Standard for streamlined secrets management integrated with IBM Cloud, or Vault Dedicated for advanced HashiCorp Vault Enterprise capabilities across hybrid environments.
IBM Cloud Secrets Manager Vault Dedicated
Manage secrets for applications and infrastructure running across IBM Cloud, other clouds and on-premises environments through a fully managed Vault Enterprise instance hosted on IBM Cloud. Use advanced capabilities such as dynamic secrets, PKI and certificate management, namespaces, policy-based access controls and disaster recovery support without operating the Vault platform yourself.
Best suited for
Enterprises that need the native Vault experience for advanced machine identity security, hybrid standardization, dynamic credentials and enterprise-scale governance for sensitive or mission-critical workloads.
IBM Cloud Secrets Manager Standard
Centrally create, store, rotate and manage application secrets, credentials and certificates in a fully managed, single-tenant service. Integrate with IBM Cloud services and IAM to apply consistent access controls, automate secret lifecycle tasks and monitor secret activity.
Best suited for
Teams that need secure, cloud-native secrets management for applications and services running primarily on IBM Cloud.
Store credentials, API keys, certificates and other secrets in a fully managed, single-tenant environment with encryption, access controls and data isolation.
Create, store, retrieve, rotate and manage secrets and certificates from a centralized service. Choose advanced secret and PKI capabilities with Vault Dedicated.
Control access to secrets, monitor activity and maintain audit records to help support internal security policies and regulatory requirements.
Use Standard for streamlined secrets management integrated with IBM Cloud, or Vault Dedicated for advanced HashiCorp Vault Enterprise capabilities across hybrid environments.
Features
Capabilities for secrets and machine identity security
Manage secrets and certificates from a centralized service with access controls, lifecycle operations and integrations designed for application and platform teams.
Use IBM Cloud Event Notifications to receive alerts about secret lifecycle events and take action before expirations affect applications.
Create and manage certificates, private keys and certificate-signing requests for applications and services in a dedicated environment.
Organize secrets into groups and apply fine-grained access policies across teams, applications and enterprise environments.
Lock secrets to help prevent deletion or modification while applications and services depend on them.
Define how secrets interact with supported credential providers and automate credential workflows using customizable parameters.
Advanced HashiCorp Vault Enterprise capabilities
Extend secrets and machine identity management across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments without operating the Vault platform yourself.
Generate short-lived credentials for supported applications and infrastructure, reducing exposure from static, long-lived credentials.
Automate certificate issuance, renewal and revocation for applications, services, containers and infrastructure across hybrid environments with policy-driven controls and native Vault workflows.
Segment teams, applications and lines of business with enterprise namespaces and policy-based access controls.
Connect secrets management with Kubernetes, databases, CI/CD pipelines, cloud services and security tools through the broader HashiCorp Vault ecosystem.
Use cases
Put secrets and machine identity security into practice
- Secure regulated workloads
- Dynamic secrets
- AI agents
- DevSecOps
- Machine identities
Secure regulated workloads
Centralize secrets, credentials and certificates for financial, healthcare and other sensitive workloads in a fully managed, single-tenant environment. Apply consistent access policies, maintain auditable activity records and reduce fragmented secrets management across applications and teams.
Replace static credentials with dynamic secrets
Reduce the exposure created by long-lived passwords and credentials. Vault Dedicated can generate short-lived, on-demand credentials for supported applications and infrastructure, then revoke them automatically when they are no longer needed.
Secure AI agents and intelligent applications
Protect the API keys, model credentials, database access and external-service secrets used by AI applications and agents. Centralized governance and automated credential rotation help teams move AI workloads into production with stronger machine identity controls.
Remove secrets from code and pipelines
Give applications and delivery pipelines controlled access to databases, APIs and cloud services without embedding credentials in source code, containers or configuration files. Integrate secrets management into DevSecOps workflows to reduce security debt without slowing development.
Automate machine identities and certificates
Centralize certificate issuance, renewal and revocation for applications, services, containers and infrastructure. Vault Dedicated helps reduce expired-certificate outages while strengthening governance over machine identities across hybrid environments.
Resources
Resources
Learn how to securely store secrets and prevent data breaches from mismanaged credentials.
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