Which security property ensures data remains accurate and complete and is not altered improperly?

Which security property ensures data remains accurate and complete and is not altered improperly?

• A. Integrity
• B. Availability
• C. Confidentiality
• D. Authentication

Answer: (A)

Data integrity means keeping information accurate and complete and making sure it hasn’t been altered in an unauthorized way. This is why it’s the best fit here—when data is tampered with, checksums, hashes, digital signatures, and similar mechanisms can detect the change and allow the system to reject or flag it, keeping trust in the data. Other properties describe different protections: availability is about ensuring data and services are accessible when needed, confidentiality is about preventing unauthorized disclosure, and authentication is about verifying who is accessing the data. While those are important, they don’t specifically guarantee that data remains correct and unaltered.

Data integrity means keeping information accurate and complete and making sure it hasn’t been altered in an unauthorized way. This is why it’s the best fit here—when data is tampered with, checksums, hashes, digital signatures, and similar mechanisms can detect the change and allow the system to reject or flag it, keeping trust in the data.

Other properties describe different protections: availability is about ensuring data and services are accessible when needed, confidentiality is about preventing unauthorized disclosure, and authentication is about verifying who is accessing the data. While those are important, they don’t specifically guarantee that data remains correct and unaltered.