Secrets and configuration management in IaC: best practices in HashiCorp Vault and SOPS for security and efficiency

The article explains how to securely manage secrets in Infrastructure as Code using tools like HashiCorp Vault, Mozilla SOPS, and Pulumi ESC. It warns against hardcoding credentials, promotes central storage, encryption, automation, and rotation of secrets, and highlights practices like short-lived credentials, audit logging, and GitOps workflows to enhance both security and operational efficiency.