Document and Information Security

• Document and information security involves measures to prevent unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

What is a Document?

• A document is a written, printed, or electronic matter that provides information, evidence, or serves as an official record.

What is Information?

• Information consists of facts provided or learned about something or someone.

Kinds of Documents

• Personal documents include first-hand accounts of social events and personal experiences which cover the writer's feelings and attitudes, and comprise letters, diaries, photo albums, and autobiographies.
• Official documents, produced by organizations, government departments and their agencies and businesses, and official government inquiries, become a matter of public record and should be available to anyone who wishes to see them.

Classification of Documents

• Class I (Vital Documents) are irreplaceable records, and reproductions lack the same value as the original.
• Class II (Important Documents) require considerable expense, labor, or delay to reproduce.
• Class III (Useful Documents) may cause inconvenience if lost, but are readily replaceable.
• Class IV (Non-Essential Documents) will not affect the organization's operation if lost.

Document Information Cycle

• The document and information cycle consists of creation, classification, storage, retrieval, retention/purging, transfer (reclassify and declassify), and disposition.

Categories of Documents

• Category A documents contain reportable time, sensitive order, and significant information which requires immediate action and priority due to critical information.
• Category B documents include any communications or cryptographic documents classified as secret and require special handling.
• Category C documents contain intelligence value, exploitable information, and require classification by higher authorities.
• Category D documents have no value and no decision has been made regarding them.

Classification of Classified Information

• Top Secret classification requires the highest degree of protection, as unauthorized disclosure would cause grave danger to national security (Green).
• Secret Matters classification endangers national security and would be a great advantage to a foreign nation (Red).
• Confidential classification is prejudicial to the nation's interest/prestige or would cause administrative embarrassment (Blue).
• Restricted classification requires security classification (White).

Operation Security

• Operation security involves the protection of formulas, processes, patents, and industrial or manufacturing information.

Types of Sensitive Information

• Propriety Information relates to the status, operations, and activities of an organization, particularly the structure, products, and methods of operation.
• Trade Secret refers to formulas, patterns, devices, or compilations of information used in a business.
• Patent is a grant by the government to an inventor, securing the exclusive right to make, use, and sell inventions.

Threats to Protection of Sensitive Information

• Competitive Intelligence is gathering and analyzing information about a competitor's activities.
• Eavesdropping is unauthorized listening.
• Wiretapping is the interception of a communication circuit.
• Bugging is intercepting communication using an electronic device.
• Dialed Number Recorder records and prints detailed information.