In the world of modern enterprises, the management of secrets, including API keys, authentication tokens, and encryption credentials, is a critical yet challenging task. To address this challenge, organizations utilize secret management tools such as AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, and Azure Key Vault to safeguard their sensitive access credentials.
However, as businesses grow and expand, especially through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), they often inherit multiple overlapping secret managers. This results in hidden security and operational risks, creating a situation commonly known as ‘vault sprawl’.
Vault sprawl is the phenomenon where organizations end up using multiple secret management solutions, leading to security gaps, operational inefficiencies, and compliance challenges. According to a 2024 industry survey conducted by CyberArk and GitGuardian, it was found that the typical enterprise had at least six different secret management solutions in place. As the size of the company increases, the complexity of ‘vault sprawl’ also grows.
The main reason why enterprises end up using multiple secret managers is the lack of standardization across the organization. In an ideal world, every company would standardize on a single platform for secrets management. This becomes more challenging when organizations undergo mergers or acquisitions, as different entities may have different systems in place.
Merging complex organizations amplifies secret management risks, as standardizing on a single platform becomes even more difficult when different organizational cultures and systems are involved. With approximately 50,000 M&A deals announced in 2024, the issue of ‘vault sprawl’ is widespread and poses significant challenges for enterprises.
The operational overhead and complexity associated with managing multiple secret managers are also significant. This leads to duplicated effort in storing, rotating, and auditing credentials, confusing access control policies across departments, and delayed developer workflows. Moreover, the costs of maintaining redundant systems are high, adding to the financial burden.
Risks from secrets redundancy are a major concern, as fragmented secret management landscapes increase the risk of orphaned or forgotten secrets. Different secret managers enforce security policies unevenly, creating compliance risks. The presence of multiple systems also increases the potential entry points for attackers, leading to security vulnerabilities.
To mitigate ‘vault sprawl’, enterprises must prioritize visibility, standardization, and automation. By implementing robust discovery processes, enforcing uniform secret management policies, and leveraging automation to streamline migration and enforcement, organizations can ensure that secrets remain secure, auditable, and manageable at scale.
In conclusion, addressing ‘vault sprawl’ is crucial for enterprises to manage their secrets effectively and reduce security risks. By adopting a proactive approach towards managing secrets, organizations can turn what was once a hidden risk into a well-governed and resilient security practice.