Abstract: Techniques for verifying whether an incremental update was correctly applied to a set of hierarchically structured information include determining an overall integrity code for the hierarchically structured information and attaching the overall integrity code to the hierarchically structured information. An incremental update according to the present techniques includes an integrity code that is combined into the overall integrity code attached to the hierarchically structured information when the incremental update is applied to the hierarchically structured information. The integrity code of the incremental update is generated such that when the overall integrity code is recomputed it will match the overall integrity code attached to the hierarchically structured information if the incremental update was correctly applied.

Abstract: Techniques for performing an incremental update to a set of hierarchically structured information that do not expose the structure and content of the hierarchically structured information to unauthorized parties. The present techniques include encrypting the hierarchically structured information such that an arrangement of nodes and corresponding data of the hierarchically structured information is not exposed and each node includes a corresponding node identifier that is not encrypted and updating the hierarchically structured information by referring to the nodes using the node identifiers.