vaultless

Vaultless refers to a security architecture or system that aims to eliminate the need for traditional secret vaults. Instead of storing sensitive information like API keys, passwords, or certificates in a centralized, encrypted database (a vault), vaultless approaches distribute or manage these secrets in a way that reduces the attack surface associated with a single point of failure.

One common implementation of a vaultless system involves using existing secure environments or hardware. For instance, secrets might be injected directly into an application's runtime memory during its deployment or execution, often within a trusted execution environment like a hardware security module (HSM) or a secure enclave. Another method is to dynamically generate secrets on-demand for specific operations, eliminating the need to store them persistently.

The core principle behind vaultless is to minimize the persistent storage of secrets. This approach can enhance security by reducing the risk of compromise if a central vault database is breached. By not having a single, large repository of all secrets, an attacker would find it significantly harder to gain access to a wide range of credentials. However, implementing vaultless systems can introduce complexities in terms of key management, secret rotation, and ensuring the integrity of the environments where secrets are processed. It often requires a deeper understanding of cloud-native security principles and specialized tooling.