# Using Environment Variables in Elastic Synthetics **URL:** \ **Category:** Synthetics\ **Created:** [June 1, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environment-variables-in-elastic-synthetics/334997 "2023-06-01T14:30:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![DougR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dougr/32/48095_2.png) [@DougR](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DougR)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environment-variables-in-elastic-synthetics/334997/3 "2023-06-02T18:21:09Z")
> [@shahzad31](#): > > Hello @DougR , > > can you please elaborate on this statement? > > `"Due to the fact that parameters defined in the Synthetics app appear to be fully visible to anybody with access to the app"` > > Regards Certainly, as I may not have expressed myself clearly. Anybody who can view synthetic tests within Kibana appears to also have the ability to not only see the names of the defined parameters, but their values as well (at least, this was the case in `8.7.x`; I haven't confirmed with `8.8.x`). I referenced this in passing in [another post](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-synthetics-journey-set-playwrightoptions-from-parameters/330762/6), but it was a throwaway remark and wasn't germane to the overall question, so I dropped it. Since this is insecure, I made the decision to use environment variables instead, thinking that the journey would inherit the pod variables, not my local variables. If this is the expected functionality and not just something about how I happen to have my permissions configured, then the way I would _expect_ it to work would be that any user with access to Synthetics can view the parameter names, but only admins or those with specific permissions can view the _values_. --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environment-variables-in-elastic-synthetics/334997)._