Define Credential Ownership
Assign each production credential a named owner, backup owner, rotation method, incident contact, and orphaned-key decision.
A credential without an owner is hard to rotate and easy to leave active. The owner must know which provider issued it, which service uses it, and what breaks if it is revoked. Assign ownership as an operating responsibility, not as a name in a spreadsheet that nobody checks.
Start from provider-side key listings and the service inventory. OWASP's secrets guidance supports lifecycle management, while authorization guidance supports clear accountability for grants. Give each credential a safe identifier and a current custodian. Do not store the value in the ownership record.
Ownership card
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Service owner | Confirms the business need and caller set |
| Credential custodian | Can issue, rotate, and revoke at provider |
| Backup custodian | Can act if the primary is unavailable |
| Security reviewer | Checks scope and incident procedure |
| On-call contact | Handles a live failure during cutover |
The same person may hold more than one role in a small team, but record that concentration. A provider account owned by a departed employee needs immediate review. A vendor key used by several services needs either one clear service owner with a full caller list or a separation plan.
Orphaned-key decision
For each key with no confirmed owner, set a short investigation window. Check provider usage, deployment references, and scheduled jobs. Do not disable it blindly during a critical release, but do not label it safe merely because no one recognizes it. Decide to transfer ownership, replace it, revoke it after a health check, or hold with an explicit risk owner.
Run one controlled rehearsal: ask the listed custodian to explain the provider-side rotation path and show a safe test environment receipt. If they cannot, the record is incomplete. Keep dates for owner review and backup contact confirmation. Update the card after team changes and incidents. Keep metadata in the ownership card, then verify issuance and revocation through the provider's own controls. A named owner is useful only when the team can reach that person and execute the documented action.
Make offboarding verifiable
Use the offboarding checklist to identify owners, revoke grants and verify the result. Discuss a scoped review of your application's access controls.
Sources
- OWASP Secrets Management Cheat SheetAccessed
- OWASP Authorization Cheat SheetAccessed