National Information Security Policy and Guidelines | Ministry of Home Affairs 7. Information classification guidelines 7.1. Information classification All information available with organizations should be classified into one of the following categories (based on existing classification of Manual on paper records Issued by Ministry of Home Affairs, 1994): 7.1.1. Top Secret: Information, unauthorized disclosure of which could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security or national interest. This category is reserved for nation’s closest secrets and is to be used with great reserve 7.1.2. Secret: Information, unauthorized disclosure of which could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security or national interest or cause serious embarrassment in its functioning. This classification should be used for highly important information and is the highest classification normally used 7.1.3. Confidential: Information, unauthorized disclosure of which could be expected to cause damage to the security of the organization or could be prejudicial to the interest of the organization, or could affect the organization in its functioning. Most information, on proper analysis, will be classified no higher than confidential 7.1.4. Restricted: Information, which is essentially meant for official use only and which would not be published or communicated to anyone except for official purpose 7.1.5. Unclassified: Information that requires no protection against disclosure. e.g. Public releases Information handling: Appropriate information handling procedures must be developed, commensurate with the level of classification. For further guidance on information management and handling refer Adoption matrix based on information classification table on Appendix 28 on Page 124. NISPG - Version 5.0 Restricted Page 26