PeopleSoft Encryption Technology Concepts

This section describes key PeopleSoft Encryption Technology concepts.

Term	Definition
Encryption Algorithm	An encryption algorithm encrypts and decrypts data. As described in the previous sections of this documentation, PeopleSoft supports symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms.
Encryption chain	An encryption chain is a sequence of encryption algorithms.
Encryption Profile	An encryption profile is a specific implementation of an encryption chain. When you create an encryption profile definition, you review the algorithm chain to identify all the algorithms and parameters that are required for the task. You must supply values for all of the parameters for the encryption profile to be viable for use. The design of the encryption profile allows you to reuse algorithms across many different encryption chain definitions. And you can implement the encryption chain definitions in many different encryption profiles, with each profile having its own distinct set of parameter values.
Encryption Algorithm Parameters	Some encryption algorithms may require input parameters. These input parameters may come from keysets or may be entered directly into the encryption profile definition.
Keyset, Keyset ID, and Keyset Value	A keyset is a definition that associates a keystore certificate alias or private key to an encryption algorithm. The definition is identified by a user-defined keyset ID. The keyset value is the certificate alias or private key defined. Some encryption algorithms may require a keyset ID as an input parameter. At runtime the keyset ID is used to get the keyset value that is used in the algorithm. A keyset can also be a SYMMETRIC KEY value