Author: Eirik Salmi, System Analyst at Passwork
Organizations manage credentials across distributed teams, applications, and infrastructure — passwords, API keys, certificates, and tokens that require different access patterns and security controls. Traditional password managers address individual user needs but weren't designed for operational complexity at scale.
Different roles have different requirements: DevOps teams need programmatic access, security teams demand audit trails, IT admins require granular control. This creates demand for platforms that handle both human and machine credential management within a unified framework.
In its new release, Passwork introduces changes to credential organization, access control, and administrative functionality based on feedback from production environments. The update focuses on usability improvements and security refinements, with attention to workflow efficiency and feature accessibility.
Passwork 7 addresses a concrete operational need: maintaining credential security, enforcing access policies, and enabling team collaboration without disrupting existing workflows. This review examines version 7's practical capabilities and integration characteristics.
What is enterprise password management
Enterprise password management goes beyond storing login credentials. It encompasses the complete lifecycle of sensitive authentication data across an organization: secure generation, encrypted storage, controlled access, automated rotation, and comprehensive auditing.
Unlike consumer password managers, enterprise solutions must support complex organizational structures, integrate with existing infrastructure (LDAP, SSO), provide role-based access control (RBAC), and maintain detailed compliance logs. For organizations managing hundreds of employees and thousands of credentials, these capabilities are essential.
The secrets management challenge
While passwords serve as authentication mechanisms for human users, secrets function as authentication credentials for machine-to-machine communication. API keys, database connection strings, SSH keys, access tokens, and digital certificates enable applications, services, and automated processes to establish secure connections across distributed systems.
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