When we go to eBay, we want our bids and product descriptions to be accurate. Airlines and service industries want the correct hotel rooms or flights, billed at the right price to the right customer. News outlets want to make sure that an item is not subtly changed to alter its meaning. Part of the reason is that vendors have yet to create decent tools and make them readily available to customers. However, in 1992, Gene Spafford and Gene Kim of Purdue University reopened the integrity issue by developing Tripwire, the first comprehensive file integrity checker.
Integrity checkers address many security needs.
They can detect accidental system and file corruption early, preventing additional damage as errors compound themselves. They can protect against viruses by looking at file and system behavior rather than static signatures. By their very nature, viruses cause integrity violations. Products such as Integrity Master from Stiller Research offer a dynamic means of virus protection unlike the classic signature-based mechanisms. Web sites are the most visible and vulnerable targets of integrity attacks - most of which are easily preventable.