Quiz Entry - updated: 2026.07.30
What does the protection goal Integrity (Integrität) guarantee?
That data or systems cannot be altered — maliciously or accidentally — without authorisation.
Integrity is about trusting that data hasn't changed. It covers both deliberate tampering and accidental corruption (e.g. a flipped bit in transmission).
Mechanisms, in increasing strength:
- Checksums — catch accidental errors
- Cryptographic hashes — catch any change, accidental or malicious
- MACs / digital signatures — catch changes and tie them to an identity
Note: completeness (Vollständigkeit) is treated as a part of integrity — data that's been silently truncated has lost integrity too.
Go deeper:
Integrity (NIST glossary) — the FIPS 200 definition: guarding against improper modification or destruction.
Data integrity (Wikipedia) — accuracy and completeness over the data lifecycle, plus the checksum/hash mechanisms the card lists.