integrity

In industrial and regulated environments, integrity commonly refers to the assurance that data, systems, and processes are complete, accurate, and have not been altered in an unauthorized or uncontrolled way.

Information and data integrity

In information security and OT/IT systems, integrity focuses on protecting information from improper modification, whether accidental or deliberate. It is one of the core principles in many security models, often grouped with confidentiality and availability.

Information integrity typically includes:

• Accuracy and completeness: Values, records, and configurations correctly represent what actually happened in production, maintenance, quality, or logistics.
• Protection against unauthorized change: Only approved users, applications, and system processes can modify data, and only through controlled workflows.
• Traceable change history: Changes to master data, electronic batch records, recipes, setpoints, and quality results are logged with time, user, and context.

Examples in manufacturing include ensuring that:

• Process parameters in a control system match the approved recipe.
• Electronic production or batch records in an MES are not edited outside of defined workflows.
• Audit trails in quality or laboratory systems show a complete, unbroken history of changes.

Operational and system controls

To support integrity in industrial operations, organizations commonly use:

• Role-based access control for MES, LIMS, ERP, and historian data.
• Change management procedures for recipes, PLC logic, and master data.
• Checksums, digital signatures, or hash comparisons for files and firmware.
• Automatic timestamps and audit trails on critical records and configurations.
• Reconciliation and verification steps between systems (for example, MES to ERP).

Integrity as a governance and ethics concept

Outside of the technical meaning, integrity is also used to describe the ethical behavior of individuals and organizations: acting consistently with declared values, policies, and standards. In regulated manufacturing, this ethical sense of integrity is closely tied to data integrity and quality culture, because decisions about data handling, documentation, and deviations reflect organizational behavior.

Common confusion

• Integrity vs. confidentiality: Integrity concerns whether information is accurate and unaltered. Confidentiality concerns who is allowed to see that information.
• Integrity vs. availability: Integrity is about correctness and control of change. Availability is about information and systems being accessible when needed.
• Integrity vs. quality: Quality relates to whether a product or process meets requirements. Integrity relates to whether the data and records describing that product or process are reliable and unmanipulated.

Relation to ISMS and security frameworks

In an Information Security Management System (ISMS) for industrial operations, integrity is a core objective alongside confidentiality and availability. Controls in an ISMS typically address integrity by defining responsibilities, access rights, change control, monitoring, and evidence management across OT, MES, ERP, and quality systems.