Data integrity

 

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The data integrity service detects whether there has been unauthorized modification of data. There are two ways in which data might be altered: accidentally, through hardware and transmission errors, or because of a deliberate attack. Many hardware products and transmission protocols now have mechanisms to detect and correct hardware and transmission errors. The purpose of the data integrity service is to detect a deliberate attack.

The data integrity service aims only to detect whether data has been modified. It does not aim to restore data to its original state if it has been modified.

Access control mechanisms can contribute to data integrity insofar as data cannot be modified if access is denied. But, as with confidentiality, access control mechanisms are not effective in a networking environment.

Here are some examples of the data integrity service that can be implemented in a WebSphere MQ environment:

• A data integrity service can be used to detect whether the contents of a message have been deliberately modified while it was being transmitted over a network.

• While messages are stored on a local queue, the access control mechanisms provided by WebSphere MQ might be considered sufficient to prevent deliberate modification of the contents of the messages. However, for a greater level of security, a data integrity service can be used to detect whether the contents of a message have been deliberately modified between the time the message was put on the queue and the time it was retrieved from the queue.

 

WebSphere is a trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

 

IBM is a trademark of the IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.