Compliance and Regulatory Considerations

Compliance and Regulatory Considerations

Regulatory requirements significantly impact secret management strategies. Regulations like PCI-DSS require encryption of cardholder data, including authentication credentials. HIPAA mandates protection of electronic protected health information (ePHI). These requirements translate into specific technical controls for Kubernetes secrets.

Key management compliance requires demonstrable controls over cryptographic keys. This includes key generation using approved algorithms, secure storage in HSMs or key management systems, regular rotation schedules, and comprehensive audit trails. Cloud provider key management services often provide compliance certifications that simplify adherence.

Audit requirements for secret access vary by regulation but generally require tamper-proof logs of who accessed what secrets when. These logs must be retained for specified periods and be available for audit review. Log integrity protection through signing or immutable storage prevents tampering. Integration with compliance reporting tools automates evidence collection.