Data protection in AWS Secrets Manager
The AWS shared responsibility model
For data protection purposes, we recommend that you protect AWS account credentials and set up individual user accounts with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). That way each user is given only the permissions necessary to fulfill their job duties. We also recommend that you secure your data in the following ways:
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Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) with each account.
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Use SSL/TLS to communicate with AWS resources. We recommend TLS 1.2 or later.
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Set up API and user activity logging with AWS CloudTrail.
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Use AWS encryption solutions, along with all default security controls within AWS services.
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Use advanced managed security services such as Amazon Macie, which assists in discovering and securing personal data that is stored in Amazon S3.
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If you require FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules when accessing AWS through a command line interface or an API, use a FIPS endpoint. For more information about the available FIPS endpoints, see Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2
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We strongly recommend that you never put confidential or sensitive information, such as your customers' email addresses, into tags or free-form fields such as a Name field. This includes when you work with Secrets Manager or other AWS services using the console, API, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs. Any data that you enter into tags or free-form fields used for names may be used for billing or diagnostic logs. If you provide a URL to an external server, we strongly recommend that you do not include credentials information in the URL to validate your request to that server.
Encryption at rest
Secrets Manager uses encryption via AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) to protect the confidentiality of data at rest. AWS KMS provides a key storage and encryption service used by many AWS services. Secrets Manager associates every secret with a KMS key. The associated KMS key can either be the Secrets Manager AWS managed key for the account, or you can create your own customer managed key in AWS KMS. For more information, see Secret encryption and decryption.
Encryption in transit
Secrets Manager provides secure and private endpoints for encrypting data in transit. The secure and private endpoints allows AWS to protect the integrity of API requests to Secrets Manager . AWS requires API calls be signed by the caller using X.509 certificates and/or a Secrets Manager Secret Access Key. This requirement is stated in the Signature Version 4 Signing Process (Sigv4).
If you use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) or any of the AWS SDKs to make calls to AWS, you configure the access key to use. Then those tools automatically use the access key to sign the requests for you.
Encryption key management
When Secrets Manager needs to encrypt a new version of the protected secret data, Secrets Manager sends a request to AWS KMS to generate a new data key from the KMS key. Secrets Manager uses this data key for envelope encryption. Secrets Manager stores the encrypted data key with the encrypted secret. When the secret needs to be decrypted, Secrets Manager asks AWS KMS to decrypt the data key. Secrets Manager then uses the decrypted data key to decrypt the encrypted secret. Secrets Manager never stores the data key in unencrypted form and removes the key from memory as soon as possible. For more information, see Secret encryption and decryption.
Inter-network traffic privacy
AWS offers options for maintaining privacy when routing traffic through known and private network routes.
Traffic between service and on-premises clients and applications
You have two connectivity options between your private network and AWS Secrets Manager:
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An AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection. For more information, see What is AWS Site-to-Site VPN?
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An AWS Direct Connect connection. For more information, see What is AWS Direct Connect?
Traffic between AWS resources in the same Region
If you want to secure traffic between Secrets Manager and API clients in AWS, set up an AWS PrivateLink