From: GovernmentNews.com.au

By Mike Rothery

A new protective security policy has arrived, bringing with it major changes to the business of Australian Government agencies.

On 1 August, the new Protective Security Policy Framework, known as the PSPF, replaced the old Commonwealth Government Protective Security Manual (PSM); it provides guidance on securing information, physical assets and people.

Protective security is a key enabler for government business. Whether it is protecting the privacy of citizens, preventing the theft of assets, ensuring the safety of workers or making sure critical data is available when it is needed, the new PSPF aims to help agencies get their job done. A key driver for the change was a review of the old PSM by the Attorney-General’s Department, which found that the PSM was ‘compliance driven’ and lacked flexibility; impeding the ability of many agencies to effectively conduct daily business and deliver services.

Whilst effective in protecting national security information, the old PSM did not allow for sufficient flexibility in handling unclassified but sensitive material, such as commercial and personal information.

The new PSPF seeks to deal with these limitations, as well as new challenges posed by information technology. The new policy considers the additional risks from the aggregation of data, in addition to the classification of the individual pieces of information. An aggregation of information may require a higher level of protection than its component parts.

For example, where the harm caused by the unauthorised access of an individual piece of unclassified information might be minor, the harm caused by the unauthorised access to a complete library of information at that same classification level may be significantly higher. This consideration is particularly important given developments in technology enabling vast amounts of information to be stored in the one place.

Consider the huge amounts of data that can be stored on small devices such as USB sticks, for example.

For this reason, the PSPF includes the Australian Government information security management guidelines of aggregated information guideline.

In keeping with the move from hard copy to electronic storage, the guideline relates specifically to the security of electronic aggregations of Australian Government information.

One of the most noticeable changes to the policy is a new security classification system. The old systems of separate classifications for national security and non-national security information have been replaced; the new policy has a simplified single classification structure.

The classifications of Restricted and Highly Protected have been abolished to leave a single structure of Protected, Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. This protected change will assist agencies in conducting their day-to-day business by allowing greater interoperability across government and facilitating both information sharing and information protection.

In place of the term ‘in-confidence’, new dissemination limiting markers have been introduced for use by agencies to restrict the availability of official information where disclosure is limited or prohibited by legislation, or requires special handling. This is particularly useful for information covered by the privacy principles.

In addition to changes to information security, the PSPF initiates important broader changes to protective security, including reforms to personnel security, physical security and governance arrangements.

The biggest change in policy is the move from a compliance based approach to one that is risk-based. This marks a significant departure from the ‘one size fits all’ nature of the PSM, and allows agencies the latitude to find the most efficient controls that suit their business.

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