title: What is the recommended way to encrypt in Oracle?
body: <p>I need some help from Oracle/Security experts.</p>
  
  <p>I'm going to make functions for encryption/decryption in our Oracle DB. I intend to use <code>dbms_crypto</code> with <code>AES256</code>. I understand that I should store the key file in the O/S and read it using <code>utl_file</code>.</p>
  
  <p>Is this a good idea? Are there any problems with this approach? E.g. Can utl_file have problems if the key file is read concurrently by 10 callers of the function? Is anything else recommended instead?</p>
  
  <p>I'm sure that this is a very common thing. Does anyone know where I can find a good sample that does this? </p>
  
  <p>Since this is security-related, I would prefer to follow some standard that others are following.</p>