A user who has ALTER access authority to a DASD volume can scratch data sets on the volume whether or not the user is authorized access to the data sets. (If the user is not authorized to access the data set, RACF® issues message ICH408I to the security console to report an access violation even though the data set is scratched.) When a data set is scratched, RACF deletes the discrete profile for the data set from the RACF database, or in the case of a multivolume data set, removes the volume serial number from the data set profile.