ABSTRACT
In this chapter you’ll learn about two things-cryptography and the Oracle wallet. Th e fi rst part of this chapter is a general introduction to cryptographic techniques, encryption algorithms, message digests, certifi cates, etc. Th is introduction will be short and you won’t get into too much detail-but because there are many chapters later in the book that deal with encryption and authentication using cryptographic techniques it is important to understand the terms and what they mean. As an example, throughout many chapters in the book you’ll have to decide whether to use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES), whether to encrypt traffi c using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Diffi e-Hellman key distribution, etc. Th e second part of the chapter includes HOWTOs related to using the Oracle wallet and the Oracle Wallet Manager (OWM). Th e Oracle wallet is a password-protected container that is used to store credentials used for authentication and signing including private keys, certifi cates, and trusted certifi cates. OWM is an application and orapki is a command line utility-both used for managing keys and certifi cates within the wallet. It is Oracle’s implementation of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and you will use it when implementing secure communications, secure authentication, data encryption, backup encryption, and more.
