Where is it correct to store secrets in Kubernetes?

In Kubernetes, secrets should be stored using the built-in Secret object, which allows securely transmitting confidential data to pods. However, by default, data in Secrets is stored in etcd as base64, which is not encryption.

For more secure storage of secrets, it is recommended to:

• Enable encryption of data in etcd (Encryption at Rest) using Kubernetes EncryptionConfiguration.
• Use external secret management systems such as HashiCorp Vault, AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, and integrate them with Kubernetes.
• Restrict access to secrets via RBAC so that only necessary services and users can read them.

Example of creating a secret:

kubectl create secret generic my-secret --from-literal=password=supersecret

And using it in a pod through environment variables or volumes.