What aspect of cybersecurity does integrity focus on?

Integrity in cybersecurity is primarily concerned with ensuring that information is accurate, consistent, and trustworthy, which directly correlates to protecting data from unauthorized modifications. This means that any data that is stored, transmitted, or processed must remain unaltered unless authorized changes are made by a legitimate user or process.

For example, in a database context, integrity ensures that records are not altered in an unauthorized manner, keeping the information reliable for decision-making processes. Mechanisms such as checksums, hashes, and digital signatures are often employed to verify the integrity of data. If integrity is compromised, it can lead to incorrect information being used, which can have significant consequences, particularly in sensitive areas like finance, healthcare, or critical infrastructure.

Maintaining user confidentiality, securing user authentication, and preventing system outages, while also important aspects of cybersecurity, do not directly address the core principle of integrity. They each focus instead on protecting privacy, ensuring that only authorized users are allowed access, and maintaining system availability, respectively.