In the context of software development, secrets are used to authenticate users and give them access to external applications. Also used in storing database credentials, it’s a given that these secrets must be protected to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data. And because these must be kept safe from attackers, using secret detection tools can help keep organizations protected. 

What Are Secrets?

Secrets are encrypted variables that can be stored in repositories. Typically, these come in the form of passwords or keys, which are considered confidential information. Organizations must take extreme measures to keep this data secure. Thanks to the help of the secret detection feature in platforms such as Github, this can be easily done. 

What Is Secret Detection?

Secret detection, also known as secret scanning, is an important feature found on this hosting platform. In short, this feature searches for these secrets in repositories. That’s why it’s an important feature that keeps critical information safe from common cyber attacks. 

Pros of Secret Detection

Secret detection is a helpful feature that benefits developers and organizations alike. With data breaches becoming more common, using secret scanning tools helps you keep your walls up. Although it isn’t limited to just providing security, there are a lot more benefits to using secret scanning tools. Here’s why it’s used by many developers:

Free Options Available

You heard it – it’s free. Well, for a lot of platforms at least.  Github, for instance, has given public access to this useful feature. That means regardless of the size of your business and your budget, you won’t need to shell out huge sums of money to avail of this feature. 

Secure

The main reason why many organizations turn to secret scanning is because of its added security. Especially in long lines of code, secrets can be easily missed. The worst thing that could happen is confidential information being compromised – which would not only lead to security issues but also lead to a huge financial burden. 

Convenience

Another benefit of using this feature is that it’s extremely convenient. The more complex your project gets, the more difficult it gets to keep track of all the secrets stored in the repository. Secret scanning will help you identify them at a much faster pace than if you were to go through individual lines of code. 

Compliance 

Meeting security standards can be difficult for developers. Healthcare, finance,  and retail are industries that require organizations to encrypt this sensitive information. Secret scanning helps organizations comply with these regulations by identifying and determining secrets in repositories. 

Cons of Secret Detection

While the benefits that this tool provides to users are quite a handful, there are still a few disadvantages when it comes to using this tool. Let’s get to know the not-so-good sides of secret scanning: 

Detecting False Positives and Negatives

Like with any feature in technology, the secret detection tool is not without flaws. In the case of secret scanningl, it cannot always determine if a secret is legitimate or not. That means that there are occurrences of false positives and false negatives. Detection of false positives and false negatives impacts cyber security, which is why companies stay vulnerable to malicious attacks. 

When there are false positives, the detection tool would tell you that a certain element is a secret. But in actuality, it isn’t a sensitive one. This can be tiresome for web developers as they still have to verify if these are truly false positives, consuming time and effort in the process. It doesn’t help that detecting these happen so frequently that it can cause alert fatigue. Some developers avoid this fatigue by bypassing the warnings of the secret detection tool – even leading to more security issues! 

The story is different when we’re talking about false negatives, as the failure to detect secrets can result in dire consequences for an organization. If the detection feature is unable to identify this, sensitive data could be easily compromised. That’s why users of this feature must remember that secret scanning isn’t foolproof. 

Slows Down Development 

While there’s a long list of reasons why secret scanning can be beneficial to your organization, it consumes a lot of resources. Even if there are free secret scanning tools available, it may cost your development process a significant amount of time to identify secrets in repositories, which slows down development. That’s why organizations who plan to invest in secret detection must also be prepared to face challenges when integrating this into the development process as they have to not only account for the time spent on analyzing the results of the scans, but also the time spent on configuring these tools.

In Conclusion

Secret detection is an important tool for any organization as it helps in identifying secrets in code repositories. Without it, these entities would be left vulnerable which could result in serious consequences. That’s why every developer must use the secret detection feature, even with the possibilities of false positives and false negatives. While there might be a few risks that come with using this tool, the benefits greatly outweigh them. Hence, organizations and developers who are looking to invest in internet security can do so by using secret scanning tools.