What is the primary function of AWS Secrets Manager?

AWS Secrets Manager is primarily designed to help organizations manage and retrieve sensitive information, such as API keys, database credentials, and other types of secrets securely. The service allows users to store these secrets in a safe, encrypted format, ensuring that only authorized applications and users can access them.

Additionally, Secrets Manager provides functionalities like automatic rotation of secrets, which enhances security by regularly updating credentials without manual intervention. This is especially useful in maintaining security best practices since hardcoding secrets into application code or configuration can lead to vulnerabilities. By centralizing the management of sensitive information, AWS Secrets Manager minimizes the risk of exposure and simplifies the management of application secrets across various services and environments.

The other choices do not align with the primary function of Secrets Manager. Storing large files securely is more suited to AWS S3, monitoring application performance is handled by services like AWS CloudWatch, and managing access permissions is typically the role of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).