diff --git a/airflow/secrets/__init__.py b/airflow/secrets/__init__.py
index 621962776d9fc..69aa79cb083d0 100644
--- a/airflow/secrets/__init__.py
+++ b/airflow/secrets/__init__.py
@@ -79,10 +79,10 @@ def initialize_secrets_backends() -> List[BaseSecretsBackend]:
     * import secrets backend classes
     * instantiate them and return them in a list
     """
-    alternative_secrets_backend = conf.get(section=CONFIG_SECTION, key='class_name', fallback='')
+    alternative_secrets_backend = conf.get(section=CONFIG_SECTION, key='backend', fallback='')
     try:
         alternative_secrets_config_dict = json.loads(
-            conf.get(section=CONFIG_SECTION, key='config_json', fallback='{}')
+            conf.get(section=CONFIG_SECTION, key='backend_kwargs', fallback='{}')
         )
     except JSONDecodeError:
         alternative_secrets_config_dict = {}
diff --git a/tests/secrets/test_secrets.py b/tests/secrets/test_secrets.py
index 1aa71e918ef68..41fac05b89a05 100644
--- a/tests/secrets/test_secrets.py
+++ b/tests/secrets/test_secrets.py
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 import unittest
 from unittest import mock
 
-from airflow.secrets import get_connections
+from airflow.secrets import get_connections, initialize_secrets_backends
+from tests.test_utils.config import conf_vars
 
 
 class TestSecrets(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -39,6 +40,17 @@ def test_get_connections_first_try(self, mock_env_get, mock_meta_get):
         mock_env_get.assert_called_once_with(conn_id="fake_conn_id")
         mock_meta_get.not_called()
 
+    @conf_vars({
+        ("secrets", "backend"): "airflow.providers.amazon.aws.secrets.ssm.AwsSsmSecretsBackend",
+        ("secrets", "backend_kwargs"): '{"prefix": "/airflow", "profile_name": null}',
+    })
+    def test_initialize_secrets_backends(self):
+        backends = initialize_secrets_backends()
+        backend_classes = [backend.__class__.__name__ for backend in backends]
+
+        self.assertEqual(3, len(backends))
+        self.assertIn('AwsSsmSecretsBackend', backend_classes)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()