password case-sensitivity in Oracle

As an Oracle veteran, one of the surprises Oracle 11g had in store for me, was password case-sensitivity. 

One could have discovered it by reading thoroughly through the new features. But one was busy working on a startup idea, and discovered it the hard way....  as this feature comes with case sensitivity security enabled as the default, out-of-the-box.  

So, now that the startup is sadly behind, and looking ahead at the future, it is time to record some points to remember: 

The parameter: SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON

tells of the password case-sensitivity status. 

False - case insensitive passwords 

True - case sensitive passwords 

The DBA_USERS view includes a PASSWORD_VERSIONS column. 

Users imported from ealier versions of the db, will have a "10G" (and maintain case insensitive passwords independent of the SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON parameter setting). 

But pay attention: the passwords of those users will adhere to the DB norm, once  they are changed.