Managing secrets securely in Azure DevOps is crucial for protecting sensitive data like passwords, tokens, keys, and connection strings. Azure DevOps offers several ways to handle secrets within your pipelines and projects:

1. Secure Files

• Usage: Secure files are used to store files containing secrets or sensitive information, like configuration files, certificates, or signing keys.
• Access: Secure files can be uploaded to Azure DevOps and accessed in pipelines using tasks. Access to these files can be restricted and managed through security roles.

2. Variable Groups

• Usage: Variable groups store sets of variables, including secrets, that can be used across multiple build and release pipelines.
• Security: You can mark a variable as a secret, which will hide its value in the Azure DevOps user interface and logs. Secret variables are encrypted and can be used in pipeline tasks.

3. Pipeline Variables

• Usage: You can define variables directly in your pipeline, including secret variables.
• Encryption: When marked as secret, these variables are encrypted and can only be accessed by tasks in the pipeline.

4. Service Connections

• Usage: Service connections are used to store credentials for external services (like Azure, Docker registries, or other cloud providers).
• Secure Handling: Credentials in service connections are encrypted and can be used in tasks to authenticate to external services.

5. Library Secure Files

• Usage: The Library in Azure DevOps allows you to store secure files and link them to your pipelines.
• Management: You can manage access to these files using roles and permissions.

Best Practices for Managing Secrets

1. Principle of Least Privilege: Grant access to secrets only to those who absolutely need it. Use roles and permissions to manage access.

2. Regular Rotation: Regularly rotate your secrets to reduce the risk of them being compromised.

3. Avoid Hardcoding Secrets: Never hardcode secrets in your code or scripts. Always use variables or secure files.

4. Audit and Monitor Access: Regularly audit access to your secrets and review logs to monitor for any unauthorized access.

5. Integrate with Key Management Services: For enhanced security, consider integrating with key management services like Azure Key Vault.

Accessing Secrets in Pipelines

• In your pipeline YAML or tasks, you can reference secret variables using the syntax $(variableName). For scripts, these are often mapped to environment variables.
• Remember, the value of a secret variable is not displayed in logs or the Azure DevOps user interface for security reasons.

Handling Secret Variables in Pull Request Builds

• Be cautious with secret variables in pull request builds, especially from forks, as this can be a security risk. By default, Azure DevOps does not make secret variables available to builds of forks in public projects.

By using these features and following best practices, you can effectively manage and secure your secrets in Azure DevOps, ensuring that sensitive data is protected throughout your development and deployment processes.