You can create an AccessKey pair for an Alibaba Cloud account or a Resource Access Management (RAM) user. An AccessKey pair is required for identity verification when you call Alibaba Cloud APIs.
An AccessKey pair includes an AccessKey ID and an AccessKey Secret.
AccessKey ID: Used to identify the user.
AccessKey Secret: Used to authenticate the user's identity. You must keep your AccessKey Secret confidential.
A leaked AccessKey pair for an Alibaba Cloud account poses a security threat to all resources under that account. To ensure account security, we recommend that you create an AccessKey pair for a RAM user instead of for your Alibaba Cloud account.
For more information, see Create an AccessKey.
Important: Do not hardcode your AccessKey ID and AccessKey Secret in your code. This practice poses a security risk. The SDK code examples demonstrate how to configure access credentials using environment variables. We recommend that you use this method to store and retrieve your AccessKey pair.