BSI ID: G 0.22

Information can be manipulated in many ways, e.g. through incorrect or deliberately false data entry, changes to the content of database fields or correspondence. In principle, this applies not only to digital information, but also to documents in paper form, for example.

However, a perpetrator can only manipulate information to which they have access. The more access rights a person has to files and directories on IT systems, or the more ways they have to access information, the more serious the manipulation they can carry out. If the manipulation is not detected early on, it can seriously disrupt the smooth running of business processes and specialist tasks.

Archived documents usually contain information that needs to be protected. Manipulation of such documents is particularly serious because it may not be noticed for years and it is often impossible to verify what has happened.

Example:

• An employee was so annoyed about her roommate's promotion in the accounting department that she gained unauthorised access to her colleague's computer while she was briefly away. By changing a few figures in the monthly balance sheet, she had an enormous negative impact on the company's published annual results.