Operating in today's global business environment presents numerous security and compliance challenges. The economic benefits of outsourcing must be coupled with adequate protections to safeguard intellectual property and privacy related information. In recent years there have been numerous incidents of identity theft and credit card fraud resulting in damages reaching into the tens of millions of dollars. By encrypting sensitive information inside the database, across networks, and on backups organizations can reduce the risks associated with outsourcing their data center, disaster recovery facilities, or off-site backup sites. This white paper examines how Oracle Advanced Security provides complete standards-based encryption that does not require any costly changes to existing applications and can help organizations achieve operational efficiencies in today's difficult economy.