Credential
Information or a cryptographic artifact used to prove identity or obtain authorized access.
Plain English
Something a person or system presents to sign in or call a protected resource.
In context
Credentials include passwords keys tokens and certificates and require secure issuance storage rotation revocation and limited scope.
Example
“The leaked credential was revoked and replaced through the secrets-management workflow.”
When you'll hear this
- authentication
- service integration
- incident response
Common misunderstanding
A username alone is usually an identifier rather than sufficient proof of identity and credentials are not the same as permissions.
Also known as
login credentialaccess credential
Commonly used by
Related terms
Updated: 2026-08-27
