Why are data integrity checksums important in backups?

Why are data integrity checksums important in backups?

• A. They speed up backups by compressing data.
• B. They detect corruption or tampering to ensure restored data is accurate and complete.
• C. They prevent ransomware from encrypting backups.
• D. They ensure only new data is backed up.

Answer: (B)

Checksums are like fingerprints for your data. When a backup is created, a checksum is calculated from the data and stored with the backup. During a restore, the data is rechecked by recomputing the checksum and comparing it to the stored value. If they match, you can trust that the backup hasn’t been corrupted or tampered with and that the restored files are complete and accurate. This helps catch silent data corruption, disk errors, or malicious changes that could undermine recoverability. The other options don’t fit because checksums don’t speed up backups through compression, don’t inherently prevent ransomware, and aren’t about backing up only new data.

Checksums are like fingerprints for your data. When a backup is created, a checksum is calculated from the data and stored with the backup. During a restore, the data is rechecked by recomputing the checksum and comparing it to the stored value. If they match, you can trust that the backup hasn’t been corrupted or tampered with and that the restored files are complete and accurate. This helps catch silent data corruption, disk errors, or malicious changes that could undermine recoverability. The other options don’t fit because checksums don’t speed up backups through compression, don’t inherently prevent ransomware, and aren’t about backing up only new data.