The increasingly sophisticated nature of information theft, and the continued emergence of new data privacy protection regulations worldwide, requires strong data security. Effective information security starts by protecting data at the source - the databases in which it resides. Historically most organizations have relied on network perimeter and application level security to restrict access to sensitive data, leaving their databases and the sensitive information inside exposed. With Oracle Database 11g powerful privileged user and multi-factor access control, data classification, transparent data encryption, auditing, monitoring, and data masking, organizations can deploy reliable data security solutions that do not require any changes to existing applications, minimizing the costs associated with regulatory compliance and the deployment of strong internal controls.