How does AWS Secrets Manager enhance security for applications?

AWS Secrets Manager enhances security for applications primarily by allowing secure storage of credentials instead of hardcoding them in application code. Hardcoding credentials poses significant security risks, as anyone who accesses the codebase may inadvertently expose sensitive information such as database passwords, API keys, and other types of secrets. By using Secrets Manager, developers can store these secrets in a secure environment and retrieve them programmatically at runtime, thereby reducing the risk of accidental exposure and simplifying secret management throughout the application lifecycle.

Moreover, Secrets Manager integrates with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to enforce fine-grained access controls, ensuring that only authorized entities can access the secrets. This centralizes secret management and enables automated rotation of secrets, further enhancing security compliance and minimizing the potential for credential misuse.

The other options pertain to different security aspects but do not specifically relate to the core functionality that AWS Secrets Manager provides in managing application credentials securely.