Securing Oracle Databases with Encryption and API Key Management

Oracle databases often store an organization’s most sensitive and business-critical data(PCI/PII). As such, implementing strong encryption and key management controls is essential for preventing data breaches and meeting compliance requirements.Oracle provides a number of encryption capabilities to secure data at rest, in transit over networks, and on backups. Some key features include:

• Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
  TDE automatically encrypts data within datafiles, protecting against theft of physical media or backups. The database itself handles encryption/decryption with minimal performance overhead.
• TDE Column Encryption
  For applications that need encryption at a more granular level, columns containing sensitive data like credit cards or passwords can be encrypted while other columns remain unencrypted.
• Oracle Net Encryption
  This encrypts all data moving across Oracle Net networks, protecting from sniffing attacks when data is in transit between database client and server.
• Oracle DataPump Encryption
  Ensures backups created by Oracle’s DataPump export utility are encrypted, securing sensitive data on disk.To maximize security, Oracle recommends using Wallets and Java Keystores to securely store the master encryption keys used by TDE and other features.
• API Key Management with Oracle Key Vault
  Managing encryption keys is just as critical as encrypting data itself. Oracle Key Vault allows organizations to maintain a secure key repository and lifecycle management system.Key Vault provides highly available, hardened storage for TDE master keys, Java keystores, credential files, and security objects. Access is tightly restricted and integration enables automated distribution of keys to authorized databases/systems.Advanced key rotation, archival, and compliance reporting capabilities simplify encryption key management. For Oracle Cloud environments, Key Management provides a managed service for securing keys.
  By leveraging Oracle encryption features along with centralized key storage and lifecycle management in Key Vault, organizations can implement robust data-at-rest and data-in-motion encryption. This protects sensitive Oracle database information while streamlining encryption key administration.