Unofficial or official information

OFFICIAL information is all information created, sent or received as part of the agency’s work. This information is an official record and provides evidence of what an agency has done and why. UNOFFICIAL information is information which does not relate to the agency’s work, such as a personal email. OFFICIAL information has been assessed as relating to the agency and does not have a sensitive or security classification. See Figure 3 for an illustration of the key differences.

Previously, information handled by the NSW Government which had a low sensitivity could have been marked as UNCLASSIFIED. This label has been replaced by the OFFICIAL label.

Figure 3: UNOFFICIAL and OFFICIAL information may not need to be labelled

Agencies must implement operational controls to protect information in proportion to their value, importance and sensitivity. Although these guidelines are focused on sensitive and security classified information, all official information requires an appropriate degree of protection as information (and assets holding information) are subject to both intentional and accidental threats. In addition, related processes, systems, networks and people have inherent vulnerabilities. A deliberate or accidental threat that compromises information security could have an adverse impact on government business.