Identifying a key to a compute resource, as used herein, may refer to an operation or a process of locating, recognizing, or any operation or process or analyzing computerized data or information to determine that the computerized data or information is a key to the compute resources. By way of example, the at least one processor may analyze cloud infrastructure 106 in FIG. 1 to recognize a list of compute resources in cloud infrastructure 106 (e.g., scanning system 101, any of databases 103A-103D, any of virtual machines 107A-107D, any of databases 109A-109D, any of storage 111A-111D, any of keystores 113A-113D, or load balancer 115). Then, the at least one processor may read computerized data stored in a compute resource and identify that some of the computerized data are one or more keys to other compute resources in cloud infrastructure 106. For example, to recognize the keys, the at least one processor may read and compare the computerized data with records stored in keystores 113A-113D, and determine that the computerized data is a key if it matches a record in any of keystores 113A-113D. As another example, the at least one processor may read the computerized data and check its syntaxes, text string patterns, file formats, file properties, encryption manners, library versions, software versions, or any other characteristics or features of the computerized data, and determine that the computerized data is a key if its checked characteristics or features fit a predetermined pattern of a key or fit an entry in a dictionary of keys. For example, the dictionary of keys may be stored in a keystore (e.g., any of keystores 113A-113D).
