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All glossary terms

Credentials & security

Credential vault

A credential vault is a managed store for sensitive values such as API keys, passwords, or tokens. It separates secret storage from ordinary application configuration and provides controlled operations for creating, binding, using, or retiring credentials.

Also known as secret vault.

Why it matters in practice

A vault is useful only when access paths, encryption, auditing, and recovery are designed for the application’s needs. Storing a value in a vault does not guarantee that it cannot be exposed by an authorized client or misconfigured integration. Hyperproxy vaults group write-only secrets and bind credentials to approved upstream hosts.

Example

An operator stores a placeholder key in a vault and binds it to a service that may contact api.example.com.

Educational note

This definition is general information, not legal advice. It may omit facts that matter to a specific situation and does not establish or guarantee compliance.