Which type of secret pattern is looked for by Secret Scanning?

• A. Access keys
• B. CPU usage patterns
• C. Image dimensions
• D. Variable names unrelated

Answer: (A)

Secret scanning is all about spotting credentials that could be exposed in code or configuration by recognizing patterns that look like keys, tokens, or passwords. Access keys fit this idea perfectly because they are actual secrets used to authenticate to services, and they have recognizable formats that scanners are trained to detect (for example, AWS access keys start with AKIA and are a distinct, long string). The other options don’t represent secret patterns: CPU usage patterns relate to performance and resource monitoring, image dimensions describe media attributes, and variable names that don’t encode credentials aren’t secrets the scanner is designed to reveal. So the type of secret pattern looked for is access keys.