Ensuring appropriate network ________ means preventing attackers from altering the capabilities or operation of the network.

• A. Confidentiality
• B. Integrity
• C. Availability
• D. Functionality

Answer: (B)

Integrity is the main concept here: it covers keeping network data and the network’s state from being altered by unauthorized actors. In security, integrity means you can trust that information and configurations haven’t been tampered with, so the network continues to operate as intended. If an attacker could modify packet contents, routing updates, or device configurations, they could change how the network behaves, undermining its capabilities and operations. That’s precisely what integrity aims to prevent. By contrast, confidentiality is about preventing disclosure of information, and availability focuses on keeping services reachable, not on preventing tampering. Functionality isn’t a security term that addresses protection against modification. Protecting integrity involves methods like cryptographic hashes, message authentication codes, digital signatures, and secure, tamper-evident logging to detect and prevent unauthorized changes.