June 22, 2026
Posted by Alon Bar
From Secret Management to Zero-Trust Access Control for EU Regulations
Summary
The Cyber Resilience Act requires organizations selling digital products in the European Union to implement secure-by-design cybersecurity controls, protect sensitive data and credentials, manage vulnerabilities, and maintain security throughout the product lifecycle. Akeyless supports these requirements with secrets management, encryption, certificate lifecycle management, and just-in-time access controls that reduce credential risk, improve auditability, and strengthen compliance readiness. These capabilities help organizations align security operations with key CRA requirements while reducing operational complexity.
What Is the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)?
The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is a European Union regulation designed to improve the cybersecurity posture of software and hardware products throughout their entire lifecycle. Unlike previous frameworks that focused primarily on guidance or best practices, the CRA introduces legally binding requirements for any product with digital elements that is sold within the European Union.
The regulation applies broadly across industries, including software, IoT devices, industrial systems, and products with digital elements, including embedded and cloud-connected components. It requires organizations to ensure that security is built into products throughout their entire lifecycle, from design and development to deployment, ongoing maintenance, and secure updates. This includes the ability to securely update software, protect data both at rest and in transit, and prevent unauthorized access to systems and functionality.
The timeline for enforcement is already defined. The regulation entered into force in December 2024, vulnerability reporting obligations begin in 2026, and full compliance becomes mandatory by December 2027. This gives organizations a limited window to modernize their security architecture.
As part of compliance, manufacturers will be required to demonstrate conformity with CRA requirements, including formal assessments and CE marking for qualifying products, further increasing the need for auditable and standardized security controls.
Why the CRA Changes Enterprise Security Requirements
The Cyber Resilience Act represents a significant shift in accountability. Responsibility for cybersecurity is no longer shared loosely across vendors and operators, it is explicitly placed on manufacturers and software providers. Organizations must now prove that their systems are secure by design, secure by default, and continuously monitored. Products must also be secure by default, eliminating weak configurations, hardcoded credentials, and unnecessary exposure of system functionality.
This shift has direct implications for how access and sensitive data are managed. It is no longer sufficient to rely on static credentials, fragmented tools, or manual processes. Instead, organizations must implement strong authentication mechanisms, enforce granular authorization policies, and ensure that sensitive data such as credentials and encryption keys are always protected using modern cryptographic standards.
In addition, the CRA mandates secure development practices and risk assessments throughout the product lifecycle, ensuring vulnerabilities are minimized from the design phase, not just mitigated at runtime.
At its core, the CRA elevates secrets management and privileged access control into foundational components of compliance. Without them, organizations cannot meet requirements around data confidentiality, access control, or auditability.
The Role of Secrets Management and PAM in CRA Compliance
One of the most important aspects of the CRA is its emphasis on protecting sensitive data and preventing unauthorized access. This includes credentials, API keys, encryption keys, certificates, and other secrets that are commonly used across applications and infrastructure. These elements are often the primary target in modern attacks, making their protection essential.
To meet Cyber Resilience Act requirements, organizations must ensure that secrets are never exposed, hardcoded, or improperly shared. They must be stored securely, accessed only by authorized entities, and rotated regularly to reduce risk. At the same time, access to systems must be tightly controlled. This includes enforcing identity verification, applying least-privilege principles, and eliminating persistent access wherever possible.
Monitoring and accountability are equally critical. Organizations must log all access to systems and sensitive data, detect suspicious activity, and respond quickly to incidents. The CRA’s requirement to report actively exploited vulnerabilities within 24 hours makes real-time visibility and traceability non-negotiable.
Beyond monitoring, the CRA requires continuous vulnerability management, including timely patching, coordinated disclosure processes, and the ability to securely deliver updates. Organizations must be able to quickly remediate risks across their environments, making automated security controls and centralized visibility essential.
These requirements become even more stringent for identity and security systems themselves. Under the CRA classification model, solutions such as secrets managers and privileged access management platforms are considered “important products,” meaning they are subject to higher levels of scrutiny and regulatory expectations.
How Akeyless Enables CRA Compliance
The Cyber Resilience Act defines essential cybersecurity requirements across several domains, including secure development practices, protection of sensitive data, strong access control, vulnerability management, and continuous monitoring. Akeyless directly supports these areas by securing secrets and credentials, enforcing Zero Trust access, enabling full auditability, and reducing attack surfaces across distributed environments.
Akeyless addresses these challenges through a fundamentally different approach to security architecture. Built as a Zero-Knowledge SaaS platform, it ensures that sensitive data is never exposed, not even to the service provider, while eliminating the need for customers to manage infrastructure.
At the core of the platform is Distributed Fragments Cryptography (DFC), which splits encryption keys into multiple fragments that are never reassembled. This design removes single points of compromise and aligns directly with the CRA’s requirements for strong cryptographic protection and data confidentiality.
Beyond cryptography, Akeyless provides a comprehensive secrets management solution that centralizes control over credentials, API keys, tokens, and encryption keys. Secrets are dynamically generated, securely stored, and automatically rotated, ensuring that organizations can maintain both confidentiality and integrity without relying on manual processes.
Privileged access is handled through a Just-in-Time model, where credentials are created on demand and expire immediately after use. This eliminates standing privileges and significantly reduces the attack surface. By enforcing Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP), Akeyless helps organizations meet CRA requirements for limiting unauthorized access and minimizing exposure.
The platform also delivers full auditability. Every access request, authentication event, and system interaction is logged and can be integrated with SIEM systems for real-time monitoring. This level of visibility enables organizations to detect incidents quickly and meet the CRA’s strict reporting timelines.
Another key advantage is Akeyless’s SaaS-native architecture. Unlike self-hosted solutions that require managing clusters, databases, and updates, Akeyless removes operational overhead entirely. This reduces the risk of misconfiguration, ensures consistent security posture, and simplifies compliance efforts.
Finally, Akeyless provides centralized governance across multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Organizations can manage secrets and access policies across AWS, Azure, GCP, on-prem systems, and even external vaults from a single control plane. This is critical for CRA compliance, where consistency and visibility across distributed systems are essential.
Preparing for the Future: The Cyber Resilience Act and AI-Driven Systems
As organizations increasingly adopt AI-driven workflows and autonomous systems, the security challenges addressed by the CRA become even more complex. AI agents often rely on APIs, credentials, and automated decision-making, which can introduce new risks if not properly controlled.
Akeyless extends its platform to address this emerging paradigm by securing machine-to-machine interactions and AI-driven access. By combining Just-in-Time secrets, policy-based authorization, and full traceability, it ensures that even autonomous systems operate within defined security boundaries.
This approach not only supports current CRA requirements but also prepares organizations for the next generation of regulatory and security challenges.
Why CRA Compliance Is a Strategic Opportunity
While the CRA introduces new regulatory obligations, it also creates an opportunity for organizations to modernize their security architecture. Companies that adopt a Zero-Trust approach to secrets and access management can significantly reduce their risk exposure while improving operational efficiency.
This is particularly relevant for industries such as manufacturing, IoT, and industrial systems. For these organizations, compliance is not just about avoiding penalties, it is about building trust, enabling innovation, and competing in a security-first market.
Get Ready for CRA with Akeyless
The Cyber Resilience Act is redefining cybersecurity expectations across the European Union. Organizations that act early can turn compliance into a competitive advantage by strengthening their security posture and reducing operational complexity.
Akeyless provides the foundation for this transformation by unifying secrets management, encryption, and access control into a single Zero-Knowledge SaaS platform.
Schedule a demo to see how Akeyless can help you achieve CRA compliance and secure your infrastructure for the future.
FAQs
What is the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)?
The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is a European Union regulation that establishes mandatory cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements. It requires manufacturers and software providers to build security into products throughout their lifecycle, including vulnerability management, secure development practices, and incident reporting.
Who needs to comply with CRA?
Any organization that manufactures or sells software, hardware, or connected products in the EU, including SaaS providers, IoT vendors, and industrial companies.
How does the Cyber Resilience Act relate to secrets management?
The CRA requires organizations to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access to systems and functionality. Because credentials, API keys, certificates, and cryptographic keys are often targeted by attackers, effective secrets management is an important part of meeting CRA security requirements.
Why is privileged access management important for CRA?
Privileged access management ensures that only authorized users and systems can access critical resources, supporting CRA requirements for access control, monitoring, and auditability.
How does Akeyless help with CRA compliance?
Akeyless helps organizations support CRA compliance through secrets management, encryption, certificate lifecycle management, and just-in-time privileged access. By reducing credential exposure, enforcing least-privilege access, and providing centralized auditing and governance, Akeyless helps strengthen the security controls required by the CRA.
When does CRA compliance become mandatory?
The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) entered into force in December 2024, with phased compliance deadlines beginning in 2026. Vulnerability reporting requirements take effect in September 2026, while most CRA requirements become fully applicable on 11 December 2027. Organizations should begin preparing early, as compliance may require changes to security controls, access management, and vulnerability reporting processes.
