What are best practices for securing secrets?

Short answer: Use Managed Identity instead of app credentials. Enable soft-delete and purge protection. Rotate secrets regularly. Restrict access using RBAC or access policies. Enable logging and monitoring for audit purposes.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

Connection strings and payment keys live in Key Vault—not in source control or plain appsettings on disk.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.