What is Secret Sharing?
Secret sharing, in the context of credential management, is the practice of transmitting sensitive information — such as passwords, API keys, or private keys — between parties through a channel designed to minimize exposure, limit persistence, and prevent unauthorized access.
Secret sharing is a distinct concept from Shamir's Secret Sharing (a cryptographic algorithm that splits a secret into parts). In everyday security practice, secret sharing refers to the common operational challenge of getting a credential from one person to another without creating a lasting vulnerability.
The core tension in secret sharing is between convenience and security. The most convenient methods — pasting into Slack, texting, or emailing — are also the least secure because they create permanent copies in systems you do not control. The most secure methods — in-person verbal exchange or air-gapped transfers — are impractical for remote teams and fast-paced workflows.
Modern secret sharing tools bridge this gap by providing the convenience of a link with the security of encryption and auto-expiration. The ideal secret sharing channel encrypts the data end-to-end, limits access to intended recipients, and eliminates the secret after use so it cannot be retrieved from old message logs or compromised servers.
How Vaulted uses Secret Sharing
Vaulted is purpose-built for secret sharing. You paste sensitive data into the form, and it is encrypted client-side with AES-256-GCM. The resulting link contains the decryption key in the URL fragment and can be sent through any channel — Slack, email, text — because the link itself is just a pointer to encrypted data. The recipient opens the link, the browser decrypts the content, and the link self-destructs. The secret never persists in the communication channel.