ISO 27001 Information labelling is the process of marking or classifying data to show its sensitivity and importance. It helps people handle information correctly and protect it from being seen by the wrong people. Think of it like a library where books are organised by genre. Labelling helps you know what kind of information you are dealing with, so you can treat it with the right level of care.
Examples
- Public: This is information anyone can see, like a company’s phone number or address. It doesn’t need special protection.
- Internal: This information is for people inside the company only. A team memo or a company budget would be labelled as internal.
- Confidential: This is private information that can cause harm if it gets out. Employee salaries or customer details would fall into this category.
- Secret: This is the most sensitive information, often related to security. It’s for a very small group of people.
Context
Labelling is a key part of an organisation’s information security policy. It makes sure that everyone knows the rules for handling different types of data. This helps prevent accidents and makes it harder for malicious actors to get ahold of sensitive information. Clear labels on documents and data files are a simple but effective way to improve security.
Relevant ISO 27001 Controls
The following controls from the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard are related to labelling of information:
- ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.13 Labelling Of Information: This control states that organisations must have a way to label their information based on its security classification. This helps ensure that sensitive information is handled with the correct level of care.
