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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

Authenticity

Assurance that data, a message, or an entity is genuine and comes from its claimed source.

Definition

Authenticity verifies the origin of data or the identity of a communicating party. It is provided by authentication mechanisms, message authentication codes, digital signatures, and certificates. It is closely tied to integrity and is listed as an additional security goal in the Parkerian Hexad and many standards.

Example

A TLS server certificate signed by a trusted CA demonstrates the authenticity of the website.

Exam tip

Authenticity proves origin; non-repudiation goes further by proving origin to a third party.

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