A method and an apparatus reduce overhead for data integrity checks in a wireless communication system. When receiving a message, a first Integrity Check Value (ICV) is compared with a second ICV to detect an integrity error in the message. When the integrity error exists in the message, a frequency of the integrity error is counted. When the frequency of the integrity error is more than a threshold, a key update procedure is performed. Therefore, the overhead of the information for integrity check may be reduced in the wireless communication system.