How can you securely manage application secrets in a Cloud Build pipeline?

Utilizing Cloud Key Management Service (KMS) to encrypt secrets and integrating it with Cloud Build is a robust and secure strategy for managing application secrets within a Cloud Build pipeline. Cloud KMS offers a centralized service to create, use, rotate, and destroy encryption keys, and it adheres to strict compliance standards. By encrypting secrets with Cloud KMS, you ensure that sensitive information is protected with strong encryption before it is stored or used in your pipeline.

Integrating this approach with Cloud Build allows you to dynamically access the encrypted secrets during the build process. Cloud Build can retrieve and decrypt these secrets on-the-fly, meaning they are never exposed in plain text within your build logs or environments. This method adheres to the principle of least privilege, ensuring that only authorized processes can access the secrets.

Other methods, such as storing secrets in Cloud Storage, may provide some level of security, especially if they are encrypted. However, they can introduce risks related to access control and exposure during retrieval and usage. Similarly, client-side encryption offers potential advantages, but it places the burden of key management on the application developers, increasing complexity and the risk of mismanagement. Encrypting secrets directly within the application's repository also poses significant security risks, particularly if the