integrityauthentication

Integrity authentication refers to mechanisms that ensure data has not been altered in transit or storage and that it originates from a claimed source. The term is used to describe systems that provide both data integrity and origin authentication, combining checksums or hashes with cryptographic proofs of provenance; it is distinct from integrity-only checks or identity verification alone. In some contexts, the concept is referred to as integrityauthentication.

Techniques include message authentication codes (MACs) and HMACs, which use a shared secret to confirm data integrity and authenticity on symmetric channels, and digital signatures (RSA, ECDSA) that provide authenticity and non-repudiation for broader contexts. Authenticated encryption (AEAD) schemes likewise offer integrity guarantees for encrypted data, sometimes alongside confidentiality.

In practice, integrity authentication is used in protocols such as TLS, IPsec, and SSH, as well as in software update mechanisms and code signing. Email security with DKIM and S/MIME also relies on integrity authentication to verify message origin.

Standards include HMAC (RFC 2104), and various digital signature and AEAD standards (RSA, ECDSA, AES-GCM, ChaCha20-Poly1305). Key management, performance, and resistance to side-channel and replay attacks are important design considerations.