Security Classification¶
User Guide¶
Manage access to sensitive records using security clearance levels and classification markings.
Overview¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SECURITY CLASSIFICATION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ RECORD CLASSIFICATION USER CLEARANCE │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ TOP SECRET │ │ TOP SECRET │ ← Can see │
│ ├─────────────┤ ├─────────────┤ all │
│ │ SECRET │ │ SECRET │ │
│ ├─────────────┤ ├─────────────┤ │
│ │CONFIDENTIAL │ │CONFIDENTIAL │ │
│ ├─────────────┤ ├─────────────┤ │
│ │ RESTRICTED │ │ RESTRICTED │ │
│ ├─────────────┤ ├─────────────┤ │
│ │ PUBLIC │ │ PUBLIC │ ← Everyone │
│ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Users can only see records at or below their level │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Classification Levels¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ LEVEL │ DESCRIPTION │
├──────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🔴 TOP SECRET │ Highest sensitivity │
│ │ Severe damage if disclosed │
│ │ │
│ 🟠 SECRET │ High sensitivity │
│ │ Serious damage if disclosed │
│ │ │
│ 🟡 CONFIDENTIAL │ Medium sensitivity │
│ │ Damage if disclosed │
│ │ │
│ 🔵 RESTRICTED │ Limited distribution │
│ │ Internal use only │
│ │ │
│ 🟢 PUBLIC │ No restrictions │
│ │ Anyone can view │
└──────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘
How It Works¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ACCESS DECISION │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ User with SECRET clearance tries to view a record: │
│ │
│ Record is PUBLIC → ✅ ACCESS GRANTED │
│ Record is RESTRICTED → ✅ ACCESS GRANTED │
│ Record is CONFIDENTIAL→ ✅ ACCESS GRANTED │
│ Record is SECRET → ✅ ACCESS GRANTED │
│ Record is TOP SECRET → ❌ ACCESS DENIED │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Viewing Your Clearance Level¶
Check Your Profile¶
- Click your username in the top right
- Select Profile
- Your clearance level is displayed
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MY PROFILE │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ Name: Jane Smith │ │ Email: j.smith@archive.org │ │ Role: Editor │ │ │ │ Security Clearance: 🟠 SECRET │ │ │ │ You can view records classified up to SECRET │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Classifying Records¶
For Editors and Above¶
When creating or editing a record:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ EDIT RECORD │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Title: [Board Meeting Minutes 2025 ] │
│ │
│ Reference: [ADM/BOARD/2025/001 ] │
│ │
│ ... other fields ... │
│ │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ SECURITY CLASSIFICATION │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ Classification: [CONFIDENTIAL ▼] │
│ • PUBLIC │
│ • RESTRICTED │
│ • CONFIDENTIAL ← │
│ • SECRET │
│ • TOP SECRET │
│ │
│ Reason: [Contains staff salary information] │
│ │
│ Review Date: [2030-01-01 ] │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Classification Guidelines¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ WHAT TO CLASSIFY AT EACH LEVEL │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 🔴 TOP SECRET │
│ • National security documents │
│ • Legal proceedings (active) │
│ • Highly sensitive personal data │
│ │
│ 🟠 SECRET │
│ • Personnel files │
│ • Financial records │
│ • Investigation files │
│ │
│ 🟡 CONFIDENTIAL │
│ • Internal correspondence │
│ • Meeting minutes (sensitive) │
│ • Draft documents │
│ │
│ 🔵 RESTRICTED │
│ • Internal administrative records │
│ • Unpublished research │
│ • Work in progress │
│ │
│ 🟢 PUBLIC │
│ • Published materials │
│ • Historical records (declassified) │
│ • General reference materials │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
What You See When Access is Denied¶
If you try to view a record above your clearance:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ 🔒 ACCESS RESTRICTED │
│ │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ This record requires a higher security clearance. │
│ │
│ Record Classification: SECRET │
│ Your Clearance: RESTRICTED │
│ │
│ If you need access to this record, please contact │
│ your supervisor or the records administrator. │
│ │
│ [Request Access] │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Searching Classified Records¶
When you search, you only see records you have clearance for:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SEARCH RESULTS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Search: "budget 2025" │
│ │
│ Showing 15 of 15 results you can access │
│ (3 additional results require higher clearance) │
│ │
│ 1. Budget Report 2025 - Draft 🟢 PUBLIC │
│ 2. Departmental Budget Requests 🔵 RESTRICTED │
│ 3. Budget Committee Minutes 🟡 CONFIDENTIAL │
│ ... │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Classification Markings on Records¶
Classified records show their level clearly:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🟠 SECRET [Edit] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Title: Personnel Investigation File │
│ Reference: HR/INV/2025/003 │
│ Date: 15 January 2025 │
│ │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ CLASSIFICATION DETAILS │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ Level: SECRET │
│ Classified by: Admin User │
│ Date: 01 January 2025 │
│ Review Date: 01 January 2035 │
│ Reason: Contains personal employment information │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Declassification¶
Records may be reviewed and declassified over time:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DECLASSIFICATION WORKFLOW │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Review Date Reached │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌─────────────────┐ │
│ │ Review Record │ │
│ └────────┬────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌─────┴─────┐ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ Still Can be │
│ Sensitive Declassified │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ Extend Lower the │
│ Review Classification │
│ Date Level │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Audit Trail¶
All classification changes are logged:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLASSIFICATION HISTORY │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Date User Action │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ 10 Jan 2026 J. Smith Downgraded to RESTRICTED │
│ 01 Jan 2025 A. Brown Set to CONFIDENTIAL │
│ 15 Dec 2024 M. Jones Created as SECRET │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Automated Security Tasks¶
The system automatically performs security maintenance tasks:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SCHEDULED SECURITY TASKS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ⏰ Daily at 1:00 AM │
│ │
│ 1. 📋 Process Declassifications │
│ Records scheduled for automatic declassification │
│ │
│ 2. ⏳ Expire Clearances │
│ Deactivate clearances past their expiry date │
│ │
│ 3. 📧 Send Expiry Warnings │
│ Email users 30 days before clearance expires │
│ │
│ 4. 🔐 Cleanup 2FA Sessions │
│ Remove expired two-factor authentication sessions │
│ │
│ 5. 📝 Audit Log Retention │
│ Remove access logs older than retention period │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Clearance Expiry Notifications¶
When your clearance is about to expire, you'll receive an email:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Subject: Security Clearance Expiry Warning │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ Dear Jane Smith, │
│ │
│ Your SECRET security clearance will expire on │
│ 15 March 2026 (30 days remaining). │
│ │
│ Please contact your security administrator to request │
│ a renewal. │
│ │
│ Regards, │
│ Security Administration │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Note: Warnings are sent once per week until the clearance expires or is renewed.
Best Practices¶
┌────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┐
│ ✓ DO │ ✗ DON'T │
├────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────┤
│ Classify at creation │ Leave classification blank│
│ Document the reason │ Over-classify everything │
│ Set review dates │ Forget to review │
│ Downgrade when appropriate │ Keep things secret forever│
│ Report security concerns │ Ignore policy violations │
│ Respond to expiry notices │ Ignore email warnings │
└────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┘
Need Help?¶
Contact your security administrator or records manager if you: - Need a higher clearance level - Are unsure how to classify a record - Need to request access to restricted materials
Part of the AtoM AHG Framework