Overview

Oracle Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) provides the infrastructure necessary for implementing encryption. It allows you to encrypt sensitive data stored in application table columns (such as credit card numbers) or application tablespaces. Oracle TDE uses the ProtectServer 3 HSMs to secure the master encryption key for the following reasons:

• The HSMs store the master encryption keys used for transparent data encryption, and the master encryption key is never exposed in insecure memory.

• The HSMs are a more secure alternative to the Oracle wallet.