Azure Key Vault

Overview

Azure Key Vault is a cloud service for securely storing and accessing secrets, such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and cryptographic keys. It provides centralized management of secrets, key management, and certificate management, ensuring secure and controlled access to sensitive information.

Core Functionality

1. Vault Creation: Create an Azure Key Vault in the Azure portal to serve as the central repository for your secrets, keys, and certificates.
2. Secret Storage: Store secrets such as API keys and passwords in the Key Vault using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.
3. Key Management: Manage cryptographic keys used for data encryption by creating, importing, and managing keys, and performing key rotation to enhance security.
4. Certificate Management: Manage SSL/TLS certificates, provisioning, managing, and deploying them for use with Azure services and internal applications.
5. Access Control: Configure access policies using Azure RBAC or Key Vault access policies to control who can access stored secrets, keys, and certificates.
6. Monitoring and Alerts: Use Azure Monitor to track usage and health, and set up alerts for unauthorized access attempts or other security incidents.

Pricing

Azure Key Vault offers a cost-effective solution with a pay-as-you-go pricing model, ensuring you only pay for the resources you use, making it a budget-friendly option for secret management.

References

• Azure Key Vault Overview
• Azure Key Vault Basic Concepts