A method for checking the availability and integrity of a data object stored on a plurality of servers and having a number N of data words. For the distributed storage on the servers, the data object is fragmented. Each fragment is transmitted to and stored on one server. To check the availability and integrity of the fragments stored on the servers, the same random number is sent from an auditor unit to the servers. A checksum is created by the servers, in each case modified by application of the random number to the data of the respective fragment, and the checksum is transmitted to the auditor unit. The auditor unit uses the consistency check to determine whether the individual checksums sent by the servers are consistent and, if this is the case, establishes the availability and integrity of the data.