PASSPHRASE specifies an encryption passphrase used to access a table with one or more encrypted columns. The passphrase must match the latest one defined for the table. WITH PASSPHRASE must be used with the ENCRYPT modify action.

The syntax of the WITH PASSPHRASE clause is:

NEW_PASSPHRASE lets you change the passphrase. (The passphrase is initially defined on the CREATE TABLE statement.) It must be preceded by the WITH PASSPHRASE clause. The passphrase must be at least eight characters, can contain spaces, and must be enclosed in single quotes.

After the new passphrase is defined using NEW_PASSPHRASE, access to the encrypted table is disabled until an additional MODIFY … ENCRYPT WITH PASSPHRASE statement is issued, which verifies that the new passphrase was typed correctly.

If the second command succeeds you can then issue a COMMIT, confident that you have changed the passphrase correctly. If this series of MODIFY … ENCRYPT … NEW_PASSPHRASE and MODIFY … ENCRYPT commands fails because of a password mismatch, you can retry the second MODIFY (if you mistyped the passphrase) or ROLLBACK the passphrase change attempt to the old passphrase and try again.