A county assessor database shows parcel valuations silently altered overnight with no authorized change ticket. Which security pillar was primarily broken?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
If someone quietly rewrites the price tags in a store overnight, shoppers still see shelves — but the numbers lie. Silent valuation changes without a ticket are the same idea: the data was tampered with. That is an integrity failure first.
Full Explanation
Integrity ensures data remains accurate and is modified only through authorized processes. Silent overnight changes to parcel valuations in a county assessor database with no authorized change ticket primarily break integrity: the information can still be readable and available, yet it is no longer trustworthy because unauthorized modification occurred. For tax and property systems, integrity failures directly threaten fairness, appeals processes, and public confidence in assessments.
Confidentiality is not the core issue described; publication of valuations on an assessor site may be intentional transparency and does not explain unauthorized alteration. Availability is not indicated when the problem is silent change rather than inability to log in during a batch window. Authenticity alone, framed around an incorrect vendor logo, misstates the problem: the scenario is unauthorized data change, not a branding or origin-marking curiosity about the database product.
Exam caveat: 'Silent change with no ticket' is classic integrity language. Do not be distracted by public websites or overnight maintenance windows unless the stem shows disclosure or outage as the main harm.
Operational check: Enforce change management and privileged access monitoring on assessor databases, enable tamper-evident audit logging, reconcile valuations to approved change tickets daily, and alert on bulk or after-hours updates without correlating tickets.