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It's perfectly reasonable to put your credentials and configuration into a VCS if any secrets are in ansible vault or something similar. I reckon they either s

It's perfectly reasonable to put your credentials and configuration into a VCS if any secrets are in ansible vault or something similar. I reckon they either stuffed it all in as plain text or someone got hold of their source code and found a stupid hole in it and just read the database file off the front end somewhere. It's not unusual for the unclued to stick a database dump on a front facing web server with a "secret url" and just pull that down with curl or something.

ivanbakel 9y ago
It's really never reasonable. Even if your VCS is already secure, inserting credentials means bringing it up to spec with actual credential storage policy, even if that means inconvenience to the developers - and if it's not inconvenient, your policy is probably too lax in the first place. There should be a total separation of concern between your code and user credentials.
- user5994461 9y ago
  I have never seen a company that didn't store some credentials in their VCS.
  - oneweekwonder 9y ago
    To the point where you see weekly TIFU /r/cscareerquestions post on a junior using training material and then accidentally trashing the production db.
    - staofbur 9y ago
      That doesn't happen because you don't let them have the credential vault keys. In fact no humans get them; just the build and deployment pipeline.
- staofbur 9y ago
  Ansible vault, separate repository to the code and you're fine. You're up shit creek if you lose your code too unless you're 100% perfect so there is no distinction in policy. Hell if you're using vault you might as well chuck the config in with the code. The vault key distribution is what needs to be controlled.
  - ivanbakel 9y ago
    There is a real difference in company impact between leaking your code and your credentials. If your code and credential policies are the same, your company has a serious problem of priorities, since it's either not protecting credentials enough, or it's slowing down developers too much.
    - staofbur 9y ago
      The trick is to make sure that if the credentials do leak they are useless.

ivanbakel 9y ago

It's really never reasonable. Even if your VCS is already secure, inserting credentials means bringing it up to spec with actual credential storage policy, even if that means inconvenience to the developers - and if it's not inconvenient, your policy is probably too lax in the first place. There should be a total separation of concern between your code and user credentials.

user5994461 9y ago
I have never seen a company that didn't store some credentials in their VCS.
- oneweekwonder 9y ago
  To the point where you see weekly TIFU /r/cscareerquestions post on a junior using training material and then accidentally trashing the production db.
  - staofbur 9y ago
    That doesn't happen because you don't let them have the credential vault keys. In fact no humans get them; just the build and deployment pipeline.
staofbur 9y ago
Ansible vault, separate repository to the code and you're fine. You're up shit creek if you lose your code too unless you're 100% perfect so there is no distinction in policy. Hell if you're using vault you might as well chuck the config in with the code. The vault key distribution is what needs to be controlled.
- ivanbakel 9y ago
  There is a real difference in company impact between leaking your code and your credentials. If your code and credential policies are the same, your company has a serious problem of priorities, since it's either not protecting credentials enough, or it's slowing down developers too much.
  - staofbur 9y ago
    The trick is to make sure that if the credentials do leak they are useless.