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Software Architecture Guide

Integrity

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

Integrity is a security sub-characteristic in the ISO/IEC 25010 quality model (see ISO/IEC 25010 Product Quality Model). It says the system’s state and data must be protected from unauthorized modification or deletion.

Integrity sits next to other security sub-characteristics. Each answers a different question:

  • Confidentiality: can only authorized parties access the data? Confidentiality is about access. Integrity is about changes and deletion.
  • Non-repudiation: can we prove that an action or event took place? See Nonrepudiation.
  • Accountability: can we trace an entity’s actions uniquely back to that entity? See Accountability.
  • Authenticity: can we prove that a subject or resource has the identity it claims? See Authenticity.

Detection is part of the picture too. NIST SP 800-53 control SI-7, in the system and information integrity family, requires integrity verification tools. These tools detect unauthorized changes to software, firmware and information. So a system should do more than block bad changes. It should also be able to notice them.

Example

Section titled “Example”

An online shop stores customer orders. Only the order service may change an order’s status. A support agent may view orders but not edit them. A scheduled check compares stored files against known-good versions and raises an alert when something differs. The team writes the integrity goal in its quality requirements: no unauthorized change to an order goes unnoticed.

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • The document states which data and system state must be protected from unauthorized modification or deletion.
  • Integrity is treated separately from confidentiality, which covers who may access data.
  • The document describes how unauthorized changes to software and information are detected.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”