Why you should care about the security classifications

The government's new security classifications will affect the channel, says Bernard Parsons

For 50 years, government data has been classified according to six levels. But as technology has evolved, these levels have increasingly hampered the handling and sharing of data across government departments such as social services and the police.

The new system will have just three levels. "Official" will cover 90 per cent of public sector data, the data previously covered by Impact Levels 1-4. "Secret" and "top secret" will be retained for military, diplomatic and other more sensitive information that can affect national security.

The primary aim is to provide a better trade-off between usability and security, enabling people to do their jobs, encouraging a seamless flow of information, while protecting data.

There are opportunities for the channel.

Government is redefining its IT strategy and the way departments work. Increasing productivity, flexibility and mobility is meant to improve agility and responsiveness for less cost.

The key point for any supplier to remember is that it is all about delivering value, enabling business transformation that reflects what has occurred in the private sector.

Government is looking at ways of using technology, and this ranges from making better use of hosted and cloud services to using mobile-platform technologies.

This means making better use of the broad diversity of platforms and devices now available, and ensuring the right level of security and assurance.

This is not just about replacing existing systems and services, but a transformation of the IT landscape to enable new ways of working.

The opportunities for suppliers to government will arise mainly from understanding what the government is trying to achieve, as well the enabling factors of the new security classification system.

A more informed engagement may speed up the adoption of trends such as mobile and cloud, which have been constrained to date across much of the public sector.

Bernard Parsons is chief executive of Becrypt