# Ecommerce Secrets and Credential Management

> Keep API secrets out of source code, restrict access, rotate credentials and respond quickly to exposure.

- Type: Merchant guide
- Level: Intermediate
- Reading time: About 4 minutes
- Audience: Written for store owners, builders, and designers refining high-performance ecommerce stores.
- Last updated: 2026-11-04
- Canonical page: https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/ecommerce-secrets-and-credential-management/
- Part of: [Merchant Questions](https://academy.getzenbasket.com/merchant-questions/) on ZenBasket Academy

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## What you need to know

### What is a secret in application security?

A secret is confidential material that grants access or enables cryptographic operations, such as an API key, private key, password or database credential.

### Where should ecommerce API secrets be stored?

Store API secrets in a managed secret service or protected runtime configuration with restricted access, encryption, auditability and rotation support.

### Should credentials be stored in source code?

No. Source code and its history are widely copied and hard to clean. Applications should retrieve secrets securely at runtime.

### What is secret rotation?

Secret rotation replaces an existing credential or key with a new one and retires the old value without losing control of service continuity.

### When should credentials be rotated?

Rotate on exposure, suspected misuse, personnel or ownership changes, cryptographic changes, and a documented risk-based schedule. Test emergency rotation before it is needed.

### What should happen if a credential is exposed?

Revoke or restrict the exposed credential immediately where safe, identify its permissions and use, replace it securely, investigate access and fix the disclosure source.

### A quick store check

Search approved repositories and deployment settings for secret patterns, then rotate any exposed or ownerless credential.

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## Frequently asked questions

### Can one secret be shared across all environments?

Avoid it. Separate environments and services, so one exposure does not unlock unrelated systems.

### Should rotated secrets remain active as a fallback?

Only for a short controlled transition; retire and verify the old credential promptly.

## Related articles

- **Ecommerce Encryption HTTPS and Data Protection**
- **Ecommerce Application Security**