# Enhancing Security with User-Specific Access Keys for DigitalOcean Functions

DevFeed: [Enhancing Security with User-Specific Access Keys for DigitalOcean Functions](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/enhancing-security-with-user-specific-access-keys-for-digitalocean-functions-19880.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.digitalocean.com/blog/functions-user-specific-access-keys>)

Author: Amulya Tomer

Published: 2026-03-23T19:30:06Z

Content type: release

Language: en

Sources: [DigitalOcean](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/digitalocean.md>)

Topics: [Digital Ocean](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/digital-ocean.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [Access Control](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/access-control.md>), [Authorization](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/authorization.md>), [Serverless](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/serverless.md>), [upgrade](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/upgrade.md>)

Tags: [access-control](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/access-control.md>), [auditability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/auditability.md>), [automation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/automation.md>), [digitalocean](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/digitalocean.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [serverless](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/serverless.md>), [trust-security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/trust-security.md>), [update](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/update.md>), [visibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/visibility.md>)

## AI overview

DigitalOcean introduces user-specific namespace access keys for DigitalOcean Functions. The update replaces shared namespace credentials with keys tied to individual users, supporting automatic revocation when team members leave, multiple keys per namespace, improved accountability, and optional expiration.

## Source excerpt

As teams grow and scale their serverless workloads, managing security postures becomes just as critical as managing code. Our goal at DigitalOcean is to support your growth at every stage. One way we support you is by iterating on our security architecture. Historically, DigitalOcean Functions used a shared credential model within a namespace that is configured in the settings tab of the function view. Same <Token> is shared among all users for a functions namespace While simple to start, this model presented challenges for growing teams: if a team member left or changed roles, the shared credentials remained valid. To secure the namespace, admins had to manually revoke and regenerate keys, disrupting workflows for every other developer and production workload using that shared key. Today, we are excited to announce a considerable upgrade to our access model: user-specific namespace access keys. This update shifts access control from the namespace level to the individual identity level, ensuring that access is granted to specific users rather than through a shared key. How user-specific access keys enhance security This transition to user-specific keys solves several critical use cases for teams: Automated access management: When a team member is removed from your DigitalOcean team, their specific access keys are automatically revoked by the platform. This removes the need for manual key rotation and ensures zero disruption to remaining team members. Multiple keys per namespace: A user can create multiple access keys for a namespace, this would allow for easier manual rotation and management of environment-specific keys. Streamlined accountability: Because actions are now associated with unique user-specific keys, you gain better visibility and auditability into resource management. Expiration support: To limit the attack surface further, access keys can optionally have expiration (TTL). The access key will fail to authenticate for any operation(s) after the expirat