Oracle B12255-01 - Manual (Page 209)

Glossary-7
public/private key pair
A set of two numbers used for encryption and decryption , where one is called the
private key and the other is called the public key . Public key s are typically made
widely available, while private keys are held by their respective owners. Though
mathematically related, it is generally viewed as computationally infeasible to
derive the private key from the public key. Public and private keys are used only
with asymmetric encryption algorithms, also called
public-key encryption
algorithms, or public-key cryptosystems. Data encrypted with either a public key or
a private key from a key pair can be decrypted with its associated key from the
key-pair. However, data encrypted with a public key cannot be decrypted with the
same public key, and data encrypted with a private key cannot be decrypted with
the same private key.
RSA
A public-key encryption technology developed by RSA Data Security. The RSA
algorithm is based on the fact that it is laborious to factor very large numbers. This
makes it mathematically unfeasible, because of the computing power and time
required to decode an RSA
key .
scalability
A measure of how well the software or hardware product is able to adapt to future
business needs.
SHA
See Secure Hash Algorithm .
Secure Hash Algorithm
Secure Hash Algorithm assures data integrity by generating a 160-bit cryptographic
message digest value from given data. If as little as a single bit in the data is
modified, the Secure Hash Algorithm checksum for the data changes. Forgery of a
given data set in a way that will cause the Secure Hash Algorithm to generate the
same result as that for the original data is considered computationally infeasible.
An algorithm that takes a message of less than 264 bits in length and produces a
160-bit message digest. The algorithm is slightly slower than MD5, but the larger
message digest makes it more secure against brute-force collision and inversion
attacks.