Hyperglossary blog updated

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Gary Hinson

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Mar 22, 2026, 10:39:17 PM (13 days ago) Mar 22
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Today, friends, I'm slogging my way through the newly-updated Australian Government Information Security Manual - 250 pages of it, including 20-odd pages of glossary at the end - looking for new terms, unusual interpretations, interesting risks and controls, and anything else that catches my beady eye.

The glossary entry for 'integrity', in particular.  While the myopic Aussie definition sent me tumbling into a rabbit hole, what is the true meaning of 'integrity', in the broader context of cybersecurity and information security? 

Read on: https://www.hyperglossary.com/post/glossary-integrity

I'd be fascinated to hear what you make of 'integrity'.  Am I deluded here, or are all the 'official' definitions off-base?  Am I reading far too much into it, or not nearly enough?  How might you use or explain the term?  

Over to you.

Kind regards/Ngā mihi,

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Raul Rodríguez Macías

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Mar 22, 2026, 10:51:38 PM (13 days ago) Mar 22
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Hi Gary, Ausie definition is simply wrong.

Regards 


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Fecha: dom, 22 de mar de 2026, 20:39
Para: hyperg...@googlegroups.com
Asunto: [Hyperglossary] Hyperglossary blog updated
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Gary Hinson

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Mar 23, 2026, 12:35:55 AM (13 days ago) Mar 23
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Incomplete, Raul, for sure ... but wrong?  

Unfortunately none of the other 'official' definitions of integrity that I've tracked down so far cover the full meaning. They each address parts of it, often quite different aspects.

I'm troubled not to find reasoanble consensus on this, particularly as integrity has long been recognised as one of the fundamental core concepts and terms of art.  We're not taking about, say, quantum crypto, AI security or modern malware, areas that are rapidly developing in the technologies, concepts and language. Ensuring the physical integrity of a defensive wall, for instance, was definitely a concern for the Greeks and Romans, presumably right back to the cavemen. Physical integrity of a crab's shell, or a plant's or bacterium's cell wall, is critical to its survival.  And so on.  This has truly ancient origins. 

Seems to me we've lost the plot.

Kind regards/Ngā mihi,

____________________________________________


Dan Swanson

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Mar 23, 2026, 12:40:30 AM (13 days ago) Mar 23
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I attended Whitehouse infosec summit years ago, when Donn Parker stood up and said we are all doing it wrong re cia, ie it’s so much bigger than that, 

Clinton went to comdex, but his chief of staff and four dept secretaries (when they were true secretaries) spoke during the day, 

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 22, 2026, at 11:35 PM, Gary Hinson <Ga...@isect.com> wrote:



Rob Slade, greatgrandpa and widower

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Mar 23, 2026, 8:39:43 AM (13 days ago) Mar 23
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On Sun, Mar 22, 2026 at 7:39 PM Gary Hinson <ga...@isect.com> wrote:

I'd be fascinated to hear what you make of 'integrity'.  Am I deluded here, or are all the 'official' definitions off-base?  Am I reading far too much into it, or not nearly enough?  How might you use or explain the term?  
 
I just said sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition; one of the three pillars of security.

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Uuk klah ma, Rob.  U huk witas hluucsma, Gloria  Wikaah chachimhiy.

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Marty Carter

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Mar 23, 2026, 9:00:20 AM (13 days ago) Mar 23
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I believe the ‘official’ versions seem a bit incomplete because they focus on specific aspects of integrity rather than capturing the whole picture. The standards and documentation we use as security professionals highlight different facets, such as accuracy, completeness, and resistance to change, but none fully capture the core idea of integrity.

Rather than losing sight of the main concept, I think that our field of work (information security) has put it into practice at the expense of coherence. The important thing now is to acknowledge those limitations and be clear about which aspect of integrity we’re truly discussing.





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Gary Hinson

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Mar 23, 2026, 11:58:56 AM (13 days ago) Mar 23
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I appreciate the introduction of coherence and wholeness - things or people fitting and working smoothly together, aligned and productive, complementing, supporting and enabling each other.  

Talking of complementarity, there's also the 'honesty' and 'safeguarding' angles: 
  • A person or organisation with strong integrity can be relied upon to 'do the right thing' where right is a blend of compliance with ethics, placing society or community above their personal self-interest - even when they are not being watched.

  • Systems (in the broad sense e.g. computers and political systems) built for integrity are stable, reliable, dependable, well-controlled, well-engineered - at least within their defined parameters, environments and conditions and often beyond, providing resilience and 'security' in general e.g. being resistant to malicious, accidental or random modificaton and disruption from without (e.g. malware) or within (e.g. fraud and corruption).
Dan's mention of Donn Parker reminds me of his proposed extension to the classical CIA triad, adding possession and control, authenticity and utility.  I think we've touched on most of those as aspects of integrity: control is part of safeguarding; authenticity is part of honesty, and utility is a result of coherence and complementarity ... which leaves Donn's point about possession - the idea that someone can, for instance, hold or communicate a strongly encrypted data file despite not having the key, hence without access to the valuable information content.  Possibly.  I'm probably not doing justice to Donn's thinking in that area, as my example is more about confidentiality and availability of information than integrity (or possibly all three!).

I'm finding it hard to condense all of that ^ into a reasonably succinct, accurate and complete definition ... with integrity!

Kind regards/Ngā mihi,

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