Integritetsust

Integritetsust is a concept in information technology describing a holistic approach to preserving data integrity and trust in digital systems. The term is used primarily in Nordic and Finnish IT literature and in international discussions as a framework for ensuring data remains accurate, complete, and auditable from creation to consumption.

The concept combines technical controls, governance, and procedural practices to protect data integrity across platforms and processes. Core aims include maintaining consistent data over time, defending against unauthorized modification, and providing verifiable audit trails. Typical components include tamper-evident logs, cryptographic hashes and digital signatures, immutable storage or append-only logs, data lineage, and strong access controls.

Applications span healthcare information systems, financial services, supply chains, research data management, and Internet of Things ecosystems. Implementation generally follows a layered approach: preventive controls (encryption, access governance), detective controls (integrity checks, reconciliation), and corrective controls (backup, disaster recovery).

There is no single international standard named integritetsust; instead, the term describes practices aligned with established standards for information security and data protection, such as ISO/IEC 27001, 27701, NIST guidelines, and sector-specific regulations. The framework emphasizes auditability and provenance, and may be complemented by distributed trust technologies where appropriate.

Critics argue that the term can be broad and ill defined without concrete metrics, and successful adoption depends on governance, interoperability, and cost considerations. The concept emerged in Nordic tech discussions in the 2010s and has continued to evolve with data governance and compliance practices.

See also: data integrity, data provenance, audit trail, cryptographic hash, tamper-evident log.