Google Cloud Secret Manager
A secure and efficient service for storing and managing sensitive data such as passwords, API keys, and cryptographic keys in cloud environments.
| Category | Secrets Management |
|---|---|
| This page updated | a month ago |
| Pricing Details | $0.06 per version per location and $0.03 per 10,000 access operations. |
| Target Audience | Developers and organizations needing secure management of sensitive information in cloud environments. |
Google Cloud Secret Manager manages securely storing and managing sensitive data such as passwords, API keys, and cryptographic keys within cloud environments. Here’s a technical overview of its architecture and operational considerations:
Secret Manager is built as a key-value store where secrets are stored as binary blobs or text strings. It integrates tightly with Google Cloud IAM, allowing for fine-grained access control through roles and permissions. The service uses AES-256-bit encryption for data at rest and TLS for data in transit, ensuring robust security.
To use Secret Manager, you need to enable the service in your Google Cloud project and set up a service account with the necessary permissions. This involves creating a service account, assigning roles like secretmanager.secrets.create and secretmanager.secrets.get, and generating a JSON key file for authentication.
Secret Manager employs versioning for secrets, allowing you to manage multiple versions of a secret and pin requests to specific versions. This feature, combined with Cloud Audit Logs integration, provides a clear audit trail for all interactions with secrets, which is crucial for compliance and security monitoring.
Secret data is stored in regions and automatically replicated. You can choose specific regions for storage or let Google Cloud handle it. Access to secrets is controlled via Cloud IAM roles, ensuring that only authorized users or services can access or manage secrets. The service charges for active secret versions and access operations, with costs such as $0.06 per version per location and $0.03 per 10,000 access operations. The first six secret versions are free. Secret Manager has an API-first design, making it easy to integrate with other Google Cloud services and third-party technologies like HashiCorp Terraform and GitHub Actions.
While Secret Manager provides robust security and management features, it does come with some operational limitations. For example, query performance can degrade if you have a large number of secret versions, and costs can escalate quickly if not managed properly, especially in multi-region setups. Additionally, the service requires careful management of service accounts and IAM roles to ensure that access is properly restricted.