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A suspected model extraction attack does not, by itself, prove that an API key was exposed. First determine whether credentials could have been reached through the affected application, repository, logs, build system, or account. If a key may be compromised, contain it promptly using the provider’s instructions, investigate unauthorized use, and restore service with a replacement credential where possible.
What to do if an API key may have been compromised
Treat a suspected key exposure as a credential incident, separate from the model-extraction investigation. Identify the credentials that were accessible along the suspected path; do not assume every key in the organization is exposed, or that extraction alone means any key leaked.
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- Identify credentials in scope. Check provider API keys and related cloud or workload credentials that the affected process, repository, logs, build system, or operator account could access. Record key identifiers, not secret values.
- Contain a key suspected of exposure. OpenAI’s API key safety guidance says to delete the affected key in the API key dashboard. Anthropic’s Claude Help Center advises immediately revoking a suspected compromised key from the Claude Console API keys page. Follow the current instructions for the specific provider and credential type.
- Look for unauthorized use. Review API usage, unexpected requests or spend, account security history, provider notices, and relevant system logs. OpenAI recommends reviewing usage and security history and contacting support; usage monitoring can reveal misuse, but does not block requests on its own.
- Preserve incident details safely. Keep timestamps, affected key identifiers, suspicious activity, relevant logs, provider communications, and the actions taken. OpenAI advises keeping information that may help with account recovery. Do not paste a secret key into incident notes or tickets.
- Secure account access if it may be involved. If the suspected access path includes a compromised account, OpenAI’s account-compromise guidance includes changing an exposed or reused password, logging out active sessions, reviewing security history, deleting API keys, and contacting support. Apply the account-level steps relevant to the incident.
How to rotate a key without taking production down
For a planned rotation, the safer general sequence is to create a replacement, deploy and verify it, then revoke the old credential. OpenAI and Google Cloud describe this replacement-first sequence for routine rotation; Google cautions that revocation should be handled carefully to avoid an outage.
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- Update the applications, services, and users that need it. Check every deployment environment and secret store that uses the old key.
- Verify that requests using the replacement succeed, and monitor for errors or unexpected behavior.
- Revoke the old credential once the replacement is working and dependencies have been updated. Confirm that the old key is no longer in use.
For a key suspected of active compromise, do not assume it is safe to leave the old credential valid during a lengthy rollout. Follow the provider’s compromise instructions and contain the exposed key promptly. Whether a short overlap is acceptable depends on the attacker’s access, provider controls, application design, and outage tolerance. If overlap is necessary, keep it brief, monitor use of the replacement, and ensure the old key is revoked after validation. This is operational guidance, not a guarantee that every provider permits safe overlap.
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Reduce the chance that rotation affects unrelated services
Use separate credentials by environment, team, product, project, or feature when supported. OpenAI recommends separating keys by feature, team, product, or project. Anthropic recommends distinct development, testing, and production keys; separation makes use easier to distinguish and can limit the effect of disabling one use case. Avoid a single broadly shared key whose revocation would interrupt unrelated workloads.
Revocation depends on the provider and credential type
“Rotate the key” does not mean the same thing for every credential. The controls below reflect the cited official guidance; use the provider’s current instructions for the exact credential in use.
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| Provider and credential | Documented response | Operational consideration |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI API key | Delete the affected key in the API key dashboard; review usage and contact support when appropriate. | For planned rotation, deploy and verify a replacement before revoking the old key. |
| Anthropic API key | Claude Help Center advises immediately revoking a suspected compromised key from the Claude Console API keys page. | Anthropic’s best-practice guidance recommends regular rotation and separate keys by purpose. |
| Amazon Bedrock long-term API key | Use the documented controls to deactivate, reset, or permanently delete the key. | Bedrock API operations use AWS credentials rather than the Bedrock API key being remediated. |
| Amazon Bedrock short-term API key | An individual short-term key cannot be deactivated, reset, or deleted in the same way as a long-term key. | Policy or session actions may block use, but affect the generating identity or session rather than just one short-term key. |
| Google Cloud credential | Generate and deploy a replacement, then revoke the old credential using the remedy appropriate to its type. | Some service-account access tokens cannot be revoked and remain valid until expiry; account for already-issued tokens as well as persistent keys. |
Keep API credentials out of applications and repositories
Keep secrets on the server side
Do not put provider secrets in browser code or mobile applications, where users can inspect the client and recover embedded credentials. OpenAI recommends routing requests through a backend that holds the key; Google Cloud similarly advises having the client send requests to a server that adds the credential.
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Use managed secret storage and short-lived identity where available
Keep keys out of source control. Use environment variables or a managed secret store suited to the deployment; Anthropic recommends encrypted secret storage in cloud environments rather than local dotenv files. For local development, keep any .env file out of source control.
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Where supported, prefer short-lived identity over a long-lived API key. OpenAI recommends workload identity federation for supported workloads: a trusted provider identity is exchanged for a short-lived API token, with a dedicated service account limited to necessary permissions. Google Cloud generally recommends IAM policies and short-lived service-account credentials for production APIs. Its guidance identifies an exception for authorization keys used with Gemini API in production, noting that Gemini API does not create resources in Google Cloud projects; check the current product guidance before applying the general recommendation to that setup.
Limit scope and exposure
- Grant each workload only the permissions it needs, and separate credentials by environment or use where practical.
- For Google Cloud API keys, apply restrictions to required IP addresses, referrers, mobile apps, and APIs when those controls fit the use case. Delete unused keys and monitor usage.
- Treat API keys as bearer credentials: anyone who obtains one may be able to use it within its configured access. Google Cloud’s guidance favors IAM and short-lived service-account credentials for most production APIs, subject to the Gemini API exception described above.
- Use expiration and a documented rotation process where supported. OpenAI recommends both key expiration and an established rotation process.
Add detection without treating it as containment
Automated scanning can catch a secret before or after it reaches a repository, but it does not replace revoking a known-exposed key and investigating its use.
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- Run repository secret scanning and include checks in CI/CD. Anthropic names GitHub secret scanning and Gitleaks as options. Its guidance says GitHub scans public repositories for Claude API keys through its secret-scanning partner program, and Anthropic automatically deactivates detected exposed keys.
- Monitor API usage and configure spend alerts or thresholds. OpenAI recommends multiple spend thresholds and organization- or project-level hard limits, while warning that enforcement is not instantaneous and recorded spend may slightly exceed a limit. Alerts and limits are useful controls, not guarantees that all unauthorized use or charges will be prevented.
- During an incident, retain usage and security records that help establish what happened, while avoiding unnecessary copies of secret values.
What the available guidance does—and does not—establish
OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, and Google Cloud publish guidance on credential compromise, revocation, key hygiene, and usage controls. That guidance supports prompt containment of a suspected exposed key and careful provider-specific rotation. It does not quantify how often model extraction leads to credential exposure or establish that a particular extraction attempt involved stolen credentials. Determine exposure from the actual access paths and evidence in the affected environment.
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