Storing Encryption Keys for Data Lakes with Vault

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To store encryption keys for data lakes securely, HashiCorp Vault is often used. Vault is an identity-based secrets and encryption management system. A key aspect of Vault is that it can centrally store, access, and distribute dynamic secrets such as tokens, passwords, certificates, and encryption keys.

Vault offers various secrets engines, and one relevant for our use case is the "transit" secrets engine. This engine handles cryptographic functions on data in-transit. Vault doesn't store the data sent to the transit secrets engine; it only returns encrypted or decrypted data.

For instance, you might have a data lake that requires encryption for data at rest. You can use Vault's transit secrets engine to create encryption keys, which are then used to encrypt the data before storing it in your data lake.

Let's set up a simple Pulumi program to manage a transit secret backend and its keys in Vault for use with a data lake.

Below is the detailed Pulumi program to set up encryption keys in HashiCorp Vault:

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_vault as vault

# Initialize the Vault transit secret backend.
# The transit secrets engine handles cryptographic functions on data in-transit.
# It does not store data but offers encryption and decryption capabilities.
transit_backend = vault.TransitSecretBackend("dataLakeTransitBackend",
    # The path where the secrets engine will be enabled. This is part of the request URL.
    path="transit",
    # Description for the secret backend engine.
    description="Transit backend for data lake encryption keys",
    # Default lease duration for tokens and secrets. Can be overridden.
    default_lease_ttl_seconds=3600,
    # Maximum possible lease duration for tokens and secrets.
    max_lease_ttl_seconds=86400
)

# Create a new encryption key that can be used with the transit secret backend.
encryption_key = vault.TransitSecretBackendKey("dataLakeEncryptionKey",
    # Reference to the transit secret backend that this key belongs to.
    backend=transit_backend.name,
    # Name for the encryption key.
    name="data-lake-key",
    # Specifies the type of key to create.
    type="aes256-gcm96",
    # Enable deletion for the encryption key. By default, deletion is not allowed.
    deletion_allowed=True
)

# Export the encryption key name.
pulumi.export("encryptionKeyName", encryption_key.name)
# Export the path to the transit secret backend.
pulumi.export("transitBackendPath", transit_backend.path)
```

In this program:

- We've initialized a transit secret backend on Vault. This is where keys are managed and cryptographic operations are performed.

- Then we created a new encryption key named `data-lake-key` that your data lake application can utilize for data encryption purposes. The key type `aes256-gcm96` is chosen for strong encryption (AES-256 with GCM).

- The export statements allow you to access the encryption key name and path to the backend outside of the Pulumi program, which can be useful when integrating with other systems or for auditing purposes.

You'd normally need additional infrastructure set up for a complete data lake encryption solution (like the actual data storage, any required IAM policies, etc.), and security protocols around accessing and managing Vault. This program specifically targets the creation and management of encryption keys within Vault.

Please ensure you have Vault setup and configured correctly in your environment and the Pulumi Vault provider configured with appropriate access to your Vault server before running this program.