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Azure Key Vault Best Practices

This document outlines recommended best practices for securing and managing your secrets, keys, and certificates using Azure Key Vault. Following these guidelines will help you enhance the security posture of your applications and services.

1. Access Control and Permissions

Implementing robust access control is paramount for Key Vault security. Only grant the minimum necessary permissions to users and applications.

  • Principle of Least Privilege: Assign roles with the smallest set of permissions required for a task. Use granular permissions (e.g., SecretPermissions.Get) rather than broad roles (e.g., SecretPermissions.All).
  • Managed Identities: For Azure resources accessing Key Vault, leverage managed identities. This eliminates the need to manage credentials within your application code.
  • Azure RBAC vs. Key Vault Access Policies: Understand the difference. Azure RBAC controls access to the Key Vault resource itself, while Key Vault access policies manage permissions to individual secrets, keys, and certificates within the vault. For most scenarios, use Azure RBAC. If you need more granular control for specific operations on secrets/keys/certs, you can use Key Vault access policies.
  • Regularly Review Permissions: Periodically audit and review who has access to your Key Vault and what permissions they have. Remove access that is no longer required.

2. Key Management

Proper management of cryptographic keys within Key Vault is crucial for data protection.

  • Key Rotation: Implement a strategy for rotating your keys regularly. Key Vault supports key versioning, allowing you to seamlessly transition to new key versions without application downtime.
  • Use Software Keys or HSM-Protected Keys: Choose the appropriate key type based on your security requirements. HSM-protected keys offer the highest level of security for sensitive operations.
  • Key Usage: Define clear policies on how keys can be used (e.g., encryption, signing, decryption).

3. Secret Management

Secrets include passwords, connection strings, API keys, and other sensitive configuration data.

  • Separate Secrets by Environment: Use different Key Vaults or different secret naming conventions for development, staging, and production environments.
  • Enable Versioning: Leverage secret versioning to manage updates and rollbacks.
  • Avoid Storing Large Data: Key Vault is optimized for small pieces of sensitive data. Do not use it to store large blobs or files.
  • Audit Logs: Enable and monitor Key Vault audit logs to track all operations performed on secrets.

4. Certificate Management

Securely manage your TLS/SSL certificates and integrate them with Azure services.

  • Automate Certificate Renewal: Integrate Key Vault with services like Azure App Service or Azure Kubernetes Service to automatically renew and deploy certificates.
  • Use Certificate Policies: Define certificate policies to control aspects like key usage, validity periods, and renewal thresholds.
  • Secret Identifier for Certificates: When referencing a certificate, you'll often use its associated secret identifier.

5. Security and Auditing

Continuous monitoring and auditing are essential for maintaining a secure Key Vault environment.

  • Enable Diagnostic Logs: Configure diagnostic settings for Key Vault to send logs to Azure Monitor Logs, Storage Accounts, or Event Hubs for analysis and alerting.
  • Set Up Alerts: Create alerts based on suspicious activities detected in audit logs, such as excessive failed access attempts or unauthorized operations.
  • Network Security: Restrict network access to your Key Vault using firewall rules and virtual network service endpoints or private endpoints.
  • Soft Delete and Purge Protection: Always enable soft delete and purge protection to prevent accidental or malicious deletion of your vault and its contents.

6. Application Integration

Integrate Key Vault into your applications securely and efficiently.

  • Use Azure SDKs: Utilize the Azure Key Vault SDKs for your preferred programming languages to interact with Key Vault. These SDKs handle authentication and simplify operations.
  • Avoid Hardcoding Credentials: Never hardcode secrets or Key Vault URIs directly in your application code. Use configuration files or environment variables that are securely managed.
  • Caching: Be mindful of caching secrets in your application. Implement appropriate cache invalidation and expiration strategies to ensure you're always using the latest version of a secret.

Key Takeaway

A proactive approach to security, focusing on least privilege, regular audits, and leveraging Azure's built-in security features, is the foundation of secure Key Vault management.

Further Reading