diff --git a/tools/db_bench_tool.cc b/tools/db_bench_tool.cc
index c910fe019..caae7f663 100644
--- a/tools/db_bench_tool.cc
+++ b/tools/db_bench_tool.cc
@@ -489,7 +489,7 @@ static bool ValidateCacheNumshardbits(const char* flagname, int32_t value) {
   return true;
 }
 
-DEFINE_bool(verify_checksum, false, "Verify checksum for every block read"
+DEFINE_bool(verify_checksum, true, "Verify checksum for every block read"
             " from storage");
 
 DEFINE_bool(statistics, false, "Database statistics");