Secrets hygiene is the disciplined way organizations store, use, rotate, and protect sensitive credentials such as passwords, API tokens, SSH keys, and cloud access keys. Good secrets hygiene means secrets are kept out of source code, logs, tickets, and shared files, and are stored in approved secret managers or encrypted vaults with tight access controls.
In cyber security, weak secrets hygiene turns small mistakes into major breaches. Attackers routinely scan exposed servers, backups, and configuration files for readable secrets, then reuse them for valid-account access, lateral movement, or cloud abuse. Defenders reduce this risk by minimizing secret exposure, enforcing short-lived credentials, rotating compromised keys quickly, auditing repositories and endpoints for leaks, and monitoring for unusual use of privileged tokens. In practice, strong secrets hygiene is one of the simplest ways to shrink the value of mass credential harvesting.