CEOBAL Secrets & Key Governance

Keep credentials out of application records with explicit control.

CEOBAL records secret metadata, ownership and rotation expectations while the actual passwords, API keys, tokens and certificates remain in an approved external vault or provider.

Scope this capability →Run control-plane readiness

Human-governedEvidence-ledEnterprise-ready architecture

Control-plane principle

Identity → Policy → Event → Approval → Action → Evidence

CEOBAL separates identity, authority, execution and evidence so automation can be governed rather than implicit.

Trust modelExplicit

High-impact actionsApproval-gated

Evidence trailPreserved

Keep credentials out of application records.

Secrets & Key Governance architecture

CEOBAL records secret metadata, ownership and rotation expectations while the actual passwords, API keys, tokens and certificates remain in an approved external vault or provider.

What CEOBAL recordsMetadata, never the secret value.

secret purpose and owning system
vault/provider reference
owner and custodian
rotation due date
environment and scope
status and incident linkage

Rotation disciplinePlan expiry before it becomes an outage.

credential age and rotation schedule
certificate expiration
emergency revoke/rotate process
dependency inventory
post-rotation validation

Production patternSeparate governance from secret storage.

managed secret vault or KMS
short-lived credentials where possible
service identities instead of shared passwords
access logging
no secrets in source code, email or CEOBAL notes

Discovery & design

Map current systems, owners, dependencies, policy requirements and risks before implementation.

Implementation

Configure providers, workflows, controls, tests and operational ownership as a separately scoped engagement.

Managed review

Operate recurring evidence, review, testing and improvement cycles where contracted.