Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
Behind Closed Doors: Managing Passwords in a Da...
Search
Noah Kantrowitz
April 27, 2016
Technology
0
3.5k
Behind Closed Doors: Managing Passwords in a Dangerous World
Noah Kantrowitz
April 27, 2016
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Noah Kantrowitz
See All by Noah Kantrowitz
The Long Hello World
coderanger
0
19
The Long Hello World (with notes)
coderanger
0
69
What Python Can Learn From Other Languages
coderanger
0
82
What Python Can Learn From Other Languages (with notes)
coderanger
0
200
Swiss Army Django: Small Footprint ETL (with notes) - DjangoCon US
coderanger
0
320
Swiss Army Django: Small Footprint ETL - DjangoCon US
coderanger
0
81
How to look at space: PyCon AU
coderanger
0
140
Swiss Army Django: Small Footprint ETL
coderanger
0
120
Swiss Army Django: Small Footprint ETL (with notes)
coderanger
0
99
Other Decks in Technology
See All in Technology
JAWSDAYS2026 [C02] 楽しく学ぼう!AWSとは?AWSの歴史 入門
hiragahh
0
140
ナレッジワークのご紹介(第88回情報処理学会 )
kworkdev
PRO
0
190
情シスのための生成AI実践ガイド2026 / Generative AI Practical Guide for Business Technology 2026
glidenote
0
230
「Blue Team Labs Online」入門 - みんなで挑むログ解析バトル
v_avenger
0
160
組織全体で実現する標準監視設計
yuobayashi
3
490
Claude Codeの進化と各機能の活かし方
oikon48
22
12k
クラウド × シリコンの Mashup - AWS チップ開発で広がる AI 基盤の選択肢
htokoyo
2
240
AI実装による「レビューボトルネック」を解消する仕様駆動開発(SDD)/ ai-sdd-review-bottleneck
rakus_dev
0
120
猫でもわかるKiro CLI(AI 駆動開発への道編)
kentapapa
0
170
Abuse report だけじゃない。AWS から緊急連絡が来る状況とは?昨今の攻撃や被害の事例の紹介と備えておきたい考え方について
kazzpapa3
1
600
JAWS DAYS 2026 ExaWizards_20260307
exawizards
0
420
(Test) ai-meetup slide creation
oikon48
2
340
Featured
See All Featured
Optimizing for Happiness
mojombo
378
71k
We Are The Robots
honzajavorek
0
200
The World Runs on Bad Software
bkeepers
PRO
72
12k
The Director’s Chair: Orchestrating AI for Truly Effective Learning
tmiket
1
130
How to Ace a Technical Interview
jacobian
281
24k
Design and Strategy: How to Deal with People Who Don’t "Get" Design
morganepeng
133
19k
How STYLIGHT went responsive
nonsquared
100
6k
Designing Dashboards & Data Visualisations in Web Apps
destraynor
231
54k
Reality Check: Gamification 10 Years Later
codingconduct
0
2k
We Analyzed 250 Million AI Search Results: Here's What I Found
joshbly
1
960
Conquering PDFs: document understanding beyond plain text
inesmontani
PRO
4
2.5k
XXLCSS - How to scale CSS and keep your sanity
sugarenia
249
1.3M
Transcript
Noah Kantrowitz Behind Closed Doors Managing Passwords in a Dangerous
World
Me • Chef-y dude • @kantrn / coderanger • Bloomberg
FOSS
Secrets
Definition • Small • Radioactive • Required
Secrets • Passwords • Tokens • Keys • Other
Passwords • Computer to computer • 1 to ~1024 bytes
• "Internal" or human-y
Tokens • "External" or API • Like passwords
Keys • Whole files • Bigger, chunkier
Other • Kerberos tickets • PCI log files • HIPAA
records
Temperature
Hot / Online • Autonomous access • Used a lot
• Humans need not apply
Cold / Offline • Used rarely • Humans required
Spectrum
Speed
Slow • "Static" • Change is "big" • Less safe
Fast • Changes constantly • Automatic rotation • More safe
Properties of a Secrets Management System
– Jerome Saltzer, Communications of the ACM “Every program and every
privileged user of the system should operate using the least amount of privilege necessary to complete the job.”
Properties • Least privilege • Audit trail
Let's do it!
$ echo "P@s5wd" > secret.txt $ git commit -a -m
"yolo!" $ git push origin master To
[email protected]
:me/myapp.git f35a8c0..c2f0adf master -> master
Attack Surfaces
Surfaces • Brute force • Code leak • Backup leak
• Traversal • Code exec • Root exec • Laptop theft • Higher power
Brute Force • Always be wary • Rate-limit, restrict, rotate
• Make it impossible
Code Leak • Read-only access • No data • "GitHub
oops"
Backup Leak • Still read-only • With database, et al
Traversal • /show?n=about • /show?n=../../passwd • /search?q=;select…
An Aside • Environment variables • Logged, inherited, etc •
Unsafe at any speed
Code Exec • Beyond app security • Infrastructure hygiene •
Service users
Root Exec Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
Laptop Theft • Use disk encryption • Rotate everything
Higher Power • Government • Advanced threat • Natural disaster
Cryptography
Symmetry • Symmetric vs asymmetric • Shared key vs pairs
• Public key not secret
Secret Symmetric Admin Server
Secret Symmetric Admin Server Key
Secret Encrypted Blob Symmetric Admin Server Key
Secret Encrypted Blob Symmetric Admin Server Key Key
Encrypted Blob Secret Encrypted Blob Symmetric Admin Server Key Key
Encrypted Blob Secret Encrypted Blob Secret Symmetric Admin Server Key
Key
Secret Asymmetric Admin Server
Secret Asymmetric Admin Server Key Pair
Secret Asymmetric Admin Server Public Key Key Pair
Secret Encrypted Blob Asymmetric Admin Server Public Key Key Pair
Encrypted Blob Secret Encrypted Blob Asymmetric Admin Server Public Key
Key Pair
Encrypted Blob Secret Secret Encrypted Blob Asymmetric Admin Server Public
Key Key Pair
Mode • Pre-encryption • Symmetric key distribution • Asymmetric key
identity • Trusted third party
Symmetric Pre Admin Servers Store
Symmetric Pre Admin Servers Store
Symmetric Pre Admin Servers Store
Symmetric Pre Admin Servers Store
Symmetric Pre Admin Servers Store
Symmetric Pre Admin Servers Store
Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers Store A B C
A B Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers Store A B C
A B Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers Store A B A
B C
A B Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers Store A B A
B A B C
A B A B Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers Store A
B A B A B C
A B A B B A Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers
Store A B A B A B C
A B A B B A Asymmetric Pre Admin Servers
Store A B A B A B C
Trusted Third Party Admin TTP Servers A B C D
Trusted Third Party B C Admin TTP Servers A B
C D
Trusted Third Party B C Admin TTP Servers A B
C D
Tools
Text Files • git add … • scp … •
Interns
git-crypt • Git file filter • Symmetric or asymmetric •
Footgun
Cluster Managers • ZooKeeper, Consul, Etcd • ACLs or bust
• Here be dragons
Chef Encrypted Bags • Symmetric, AES-256-GCM • Server vs git
• Turtles all the way down
Ansible Vault • AES-256-CTR + SHA-256 • Still turtles
Hiera Eyaml • PKCS7 (or GPG) • Trusted Third Party
Chef Vault • RSA(encrypted bags) • Asymmetric pre-encrypt • Kind
of still turtle-y
Hashicorp Vault • TTP service • New bar for fast
secrets • Modular design
Keywhiz • TTP • TLS keys, files • Battle tested
Private S3 • IAM roles • Complex policy • Easy
to get started
Amazon KMS • Kool-aid-tastic • Key escrow • Hosted encrypt/decrypt
Sneaker • KMS + S3 • Still kool
Confidant • KMS + DynamoDB • Web-based • Versioned w/
history
Trousseau • Asymmetric pre-encrypt • GPG + modular storage •
S3, GPG, GitHub
Sops • KMS or GPG • Manual storage
Red October • Cold secrets • N of M storage
Barbican Pining for the fjords
Conjur • And other closed source • Trust but verify
HSMs • TPMs otherwise $ $ $ • Dedicated hardware
• Bugs not unheard of
The Hard Problem
Identity • Who are you? • Who am I? •
Why are we in this hand basket?
Pure Identity • TLS client certificates • MySQL, Postgres •
Internal APIs
Integration
API Clients • Vault: HVAC, vault-rails • KMS: botocore, aws-sdk
HVAC # local_settings.py import hvac c = hvac.Client( url='https://vaultserver:8200') DATABASES
= { 'default': { # Other settings ... 'PASSWORD': c.read('secret/dbpass') } }
Config Management • Templates/commands • hiera-vault • Ruby/Python APIs
Chef # recipes/myapp.rb execute 'sneaker unpack ...' template 'local_settings.py' do
# Other properties ... variables pw: citadel['pw'] end
KeywhizFS • FUSE filesystem • Direct key usage • In-memory
Consul Templates • Standalone daemon • Sync Vault data to
files • CM → Templates → files
envconsul • Vault data in $ENV • Beware of logging
Summon • Secrets in $ENV • Modular providers • S3,
Keyring, Conjur
In Summary • Check your privilege and audit trail •
Pick types and temperatures • Think about attack surfaces • Have a disaster plan
Thank You
Questions? @kantrn coderanger.net