An untampered disk image is one that has not been altered since its creation. This is verified by comparing the stored hash of the image at the time of creation with a newly computed hash; if they match, the image is considered untampered. Tampered images, on the other hand, may be used during the root cause analysis process to understand how and what was altered12. References: The differences between tampered and untampered disk images are discussed in cybersecurity literature, including Cisco's certification guides, which explain the importance of hash matching for verifying the integrity of disk images