Direct answer
An application credential should have a named owner, a defined use and a tested rotation process. A credential's expiration date is useful only if its dependent applications and recovery steps are understood.
Inventory credentials without secrets
List application registrations, service principals, credential identifiers, expiration dates, owners and environments. Avoid collecting secret values. Identify unused credentials, shared dependencies and workloads that need uninterrupted access.
Reference: Microsoft: Add application credentials.
Review safer identity options
Where supported, assess managed identities or federation to reduce long-lived secrets. For a workload that must use a credential, document where it is protected, who may create it and which permissions its application identity has.
- Record renewal alerts and accountable owners.
- Review app permissions separately from credential lifecycle.
- Protect certificate private keys and client secrets.
Exercise a test rotation
Create a replacement test credential through the approved process, update the isolated application and verify an allowed operation. Remove or disable the old test credential and confirm it can no longer obtain new access after the provider's expected propagation period.
Plan production rollout
Coordinate overlap, deployment, monitoring and rollback with each dependent owner. Verify the real application works after rotation, revoke the old credential and document any outstanding exception. An already-issued token may follow its own lifetime and revocation rules.
Assessment limits
Credential and token lifetimes are different. A test rotation does not establish that every instance, cached token or dependent service has migrated successfully.
Frequently asked questions
Does removing a credential immediately invalidate every issued token?
Not necessarily. Token validity and revocation depend on the provider and application; verify the expected behavior separately.
Is an expiring credential automatically safe?
No. It can be exposed before expiry and may cause an outage if renewal is not managed.
Primary sources and further reading
These guides combine published security guidance with practical assessment planning. Adapt checks to the owner's policy, environment, and authorized scope.
This guide was prepared with AI assistance using the linked sources and illustrative examples. Check current vendor guidance and your environment before making changes.