Data Classification

Lesson plan

Level

Beginner

Time

About 55 minutes; the steps below add up to 55

Learners rank four school documents by how carefully they need protecting, and say why not to protect everything at the top level, before classification is named. Predictions then precede who decides a label, where a penetration-test report goes, what writing “Confidential” changes, every decision in a document’s life and whether a design with no people in it is personal data; checks follow a draft newsletter, an encrypted email to the wrong person, a desktop deletion and the government scheme. The habit to build: a label is only as good as the handling rules that follow it.

Objectives

• Explain why information is classified, and who decides the label
• Describe a four-tier model and recognise the Security+ labels
• Turn a label into handling rules for access, storage, sharing, retention and disposal
• Follow one document through its lifecycle
• Separate classification from the legal question of personal data, and from the government scheme

Before the lesson

• Open this page on your own screen and use “Open the lesson window” to open the lesson in a second window. Share only that second window.
• Learners need the CIA Triad and Security Documentation lessons first.
• Four cards naming the school documents make the opening sort quick.
• The lesson takes about 55 minutes.
• In presentation mode every step is shown in turns: Next reveals one moment, part or answer at a time, and the instructor view names what is on screen and what comes next.

Steps

1. Introduction Opening

   On screen: the lesson’s title, module and number; Next adds its objectives and key terms, as the lesson page lists them; Next again begins the first step.

   Objectives on screen

   • Explain why information is classified, and who decides the label
   • Describe a four-tier model and recognise the Security+ labels
   • Turn a label into handling rules for access, storage, sharing, retention and disposal
   • Follow one document through its lifecycle
   • Separate classification from the legal question of personal data, and from the government scheme

   Purpose: Learners rank four school documents by how carefully they need protecting, and say why not to protect everything at the top level, before classification is named. Predictions then precede who decides a label, where a penetration-test report goes, what writing “Confidential” changes, every decision in a document’s life and whether a design with no people in it is personal data; checks follow a draft newsletter, an encrypted email to the wrong person, a desktop deletion and the government scheme. The habit to build: a label is only as good as the handling rules that follow it.

2. 1. One school’s morning Think 5 min

   Purpose: Let learners rank information by sensitivity and see why one level for all fails.

   Ask

   • Put the four documents in order.
   • Why not protect everything at the top level?

   Responses to expect

   • The order is rarely disputed; the reasons are the point.
   • On screen in turns: the opening question, its answer; then the question on protecting everything equally, and its answer.

   Discussion pause: Have learners justify the top and bottom of their order before revealing.

   In the lesson window

   • Think it through: In one morning a school handles its website newsletter, the staff rota, a pupil’s support plan and a safeguarding file about a child at risk. Put them in order of how carefully they need protecting, and say what makes the difference.
   • Think it through: Why not simply protect everything as carefully as the safeguarding file?

3. 2. The idea Explain 5 min

   Purpose: Name classification and the information owner, and the review of labels.

   Ask

   • Who should decide the label?

   Responses to expect

   • Many say IT.
   • On screen in turns: the opening; then data classification; the question on who decides, and its answer; the information owner.

   In the lesson window

   • Think it through: Who should decide how sensitive a piece of information is: the IT team, whoever created it, or someone else? Why?

4. 3. Four classification tiers Predict 6 min

   Purpose: Present the four tiers, school examples and the Security+ labels.

   Ask

   • Where does a penetration-test report go?
   • Is a draft newsletter Public?

   Responses to expect

   • Drafts are often treated as public.
   • On screen in turns: the opening; then the question on a penetration-test report, and its answer; four tiers, with the school examples held back; a school example of each; the document does not settle the tier; the check question on a draft newsletter, and its answer; the Security+ labels.

   Misconceptions to challenge

   • A learner may believe: “Everyone uses the same four tiers.” Respond: Tiers, labels and rules vary between organisations.

   Discussion pause: The school examples are held back: ask which of the morning’s four documents belongs in each tier before revealing them.

   In the lesson window

   • Think it through: In a four-tier scheme of Public, Internal, Confidential and Secret / Restricted, where would you put a penetration-test report, and why?
   • Check your understanding: Next term’s newsletter is still a draft. Is it Public yet?

5. 4. From label to handling Predict 6 min

   Purpose: Turn a label into five kinds of handling rule.

   Ask

   • What does writing “Confidential” change?
   • Is an encrypted email to the wrong person a disclosure?

   Responses to expect

   • Encryption is often taken as a cure-all.
   • On screen in turns: the opening question, its answer; then handling rules, starting with who can open it; where it is kept; how it is shared; how long it is kept; what staff are told; the same controls, by where the information is; at rest; disposal; access control; the check question on an encrypted email to the wrong person, and its answer; the responsibilities overlap.

   Misconceptions to challenge

   • A learner may believe: “The label protects the information.” Respond: Only the handling rules it leads to protect it.

   In the lesson window

   • Think it through: Someone writes “Confidential” on a folder. What has that changed about who can open it?
   • Check your understanding: A confidential file is sent by encrypted email to the wrong person. Has it been disclosed?

6. 5. Worked document lifecycle Predict 12 min

   Purpose: Follow one attendance document through seven stages.

   Ask

   • What decisions will it need?
   • Is a desktop deletion enough?

   Responses to expect

   • Retention and disposal are often forgotten.
   • Diagram: step through the seven stages, asking at each what could go wrong with the attendance list.
   • On screen in turns: the opening; then the question on a document’s life, and its answer; seven stages, one at a time; the diagram’s stages one at a time; the seven stages in one line; stage 1: creation; stage 2: classification; stage 3: access; stage 4: storage; stage 5: sharing; stage 6: retention; stage 7: disposal; the check question on deleting from the desktop, and its answer; the result.

   If the explanation does not land: Give pairs one stage each and have them report the decision and the risk of getting it wrong.

   To go further

   • Which stage would you check first after a complaint that a former learner still receives emails?

   In the lesson window

   • Think it through: An attendance list of learners’ names and contact details is created today. List the decisions it will need over its whole life, up to the day it is destroyed.
   • Check your understanding: At disposal, a staff member deletes the file from their desktop. Is disposal complete?

7. 6. Government classifications are a different scheme Explain 3 min

   Purpose: Separate the government scheme from organisational tiers.

   Ask

   • Is OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE a fourth level?

   Responses to expect

   • No: a marking within OFFICIAL.
   • On screen in turns: the opening; then the check question on OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE, and its answer.

   In the lesson window

   • Check your understanding: Is OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE a fourth level of the UK Government scheme?

8. 7. Classification and personal data are different questions Predict 4 min

   Purpose: Separate classification from the legal question of personal data.

   Ask

   • Is a design with no people in it personal data?

   Responses to expect

   • No: confidential, but about no one.
   • On screen in turns: the opening question, its answer; then two different questions; removing names is not anonymising; examples make labels quick.

   Misconceptions to challenge

   • A learner may believe: “Internal information is not personal data.” Respond: The two questions are separate; Internal documents often contain it.

   In the lesson window

   • Think it through: A secret engineering design contains no information about any person. Is it personal data?

9. 8. Apply it in a new situation Apply 5 min

   Purpose: Set up independent application, ideally on a later day.

   Ask

   • Who will try these now, and who later in the week?

   Responses to expect

   • The contract tests tiers; the spreadsheet tests anonymisation; “for ever” tests retention.
   • On screen in turns: the opening; then the question on a catering contract, and its answer; the question on removed names, and its answer; the question on keeping everything for ever, and its answer.

   In the lesson window

   • Apply it: A school’s draft contract with a new catering supplier, including prices, is being negotiated. Which tier fits best?
   • Apply it: A team removes learners’ names from a spreadsheet, but keeps dates of birth, postcodes and course titles. Is it anonymised?
   • Apply it: A manager wants to keep every attendance record for ever, “just in case”. What is the problem?

10. 9. Check your understanding Check 4 min

    Purpose: Check the lesson against the approved revision-bank questions.

    Ask

    • Answer individually, then compare before revealing.

    Responses to expect

    • The Internal-and-personal question links to the last teaching step.
    • On screen in turns: the opening; then the revision questions one at a time, each followed by its answer; where to practise next.

11. 10. Revision takeaway Consolidate 5 min

    Purpose: Consolidate the takeaway, the five points, the key terms and the misunderstandings.

    Ask

    • Without looking: the five kinds of handling rule.

    Responses to expect

    • Access, storage, sharing, retention and disposal, and what staff are told.
    • On screen in turns: the opening; then what to remember; the key terms; the common misunderstandings.

12. Lesson recap Closing

    On screen: the lesson’s objectives again; Next adds the closing question, which asks the class to explain each one in their own words without looking back. It says nothing about what anyone has learnt: use the answers to decide what to revisit.

    Points to listen for

    • Protection to match sensitivity.
    • An owner decides the label.
    • Labels work through handling rules.
    • Decisions at every stage of a document’s life.
    • Classification is not the legal question.

Consolidation

• Protection to match sensitivity.
• An owner decides the label.
• Labels work through handling rules.
• Decisions at every stage of a document’s life.
• Classification is not the legal question.