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What is HashiCorp Vault?
4 min readJul 17, 2024
Protecting sensitive data like passwords, API keys, and database credentials is a top priority for businesses. This is where HashiCorp Vault can help.
What is HashiCorp Vault?
HashiCorp Vault is a tool designed to securely store and manage sensitive information. Think of it as a highly secure digital safe where you can keep all your secrets. These “secrets” can be anything from passwords and API keys to certificates and encryption keys.
What Problem Does HashiCorp Vault Solve?
Before diving into the specifics of Vault, let’s first understand the problems it aims to solve:
- Centralised Secret Management — In many organisations, sensitive information is scattered across different systems and applications. This makes it challenging to manage and secure these secrets effectively. Vault provides a centralised place to store and access all your secrets, simplifying management and improving security.
- Access Control — Who can access your secrets? When you have multiple users and applications, controlling who can see and use specific pieces of information becomes crucial. Vault allows you to define detailed access policies, ensuring that only authorised users and systems can access certain secrets.