Classify your data
Understanding classification levels and policies
How classification levels work at site level
Classification levels work approximately the same way in both cloud apps and Data Center products. Your cloud organization will typically have an organization default classification level. This classification level will be applied automatically to any connected Data Center products and their content.
How classification levels work at space/project level
You may choose to override this default for content within your Confluence Data Center spaces and Jira Data Center projects, where you can apply any of the other available classification levels from your cloud organization as the default for content in each space or project. Note that spaces and projects aren’t actually classified: the content within them is classified based on the space (in Confluence), project (in Jira), or organization default.
Changing the classification level default for the space or project will change the classification level of any unclassified content within it, such as pages, blogs, and issues.
How classification levels work at content level
You can apply classification levels directly to issues in Jira, and to pages and blogs in Confluence. For example, when you manually apply a classification level to a Confluence page, the classification level that you set persists even if a change is made to the space default classification level or the organization default classification level.
However, if a page has no manually-set classification level, it will use the space default classification level if one exists. If it doesn’t exist, it will use the organization default classification level if one exists. If neither exists, it remains unclassified.
How policies affect classification levels and content
When used with data security policies, classification levels can make your content more secure. A variety of policy restrictions exist for your cloud organization. The Guard Premium for Data Center app currently supports export restrictions and anonymous access restrictions. Other restriction policies apply only to your cloud organization, and your Data Center products will ignore those policies.
In Confluence Data Center, if a parent page has a restriction set through its classification level, trying to perform that action from the parent page won’t be possible. You would need to perform that action on each of the unrestricted child pages.
For full details about how export restrictions work, see Prevent data export | Atlassian Support.
For full details about how anonymous access works, see Prevent anonymous access | Atlassian Support.
Verify that your classification levels and their related data security policies are working as expected in your Data Center product.
For example, if a space or a project contains content that has export restrictions applied, use the custom/bulk export options to view which pages, blogs and issues will be exported, and verify that restricted content is not included.
View classification levels in your Data Center product
Classification levels and data security policies should already be set up in your cloud organization. You can view and edit your existing data security policies and classification levels in the Security area of Atlassian Administration in the cloud.
Go to your administration area of Confluence Data Center or Jira Data Center.
In the left panel, select Data classification.
If you see the following page, wait up to 5 minutes and then refresh your screen.
- If the screen hasn’t updated after 5 minutes to display the current status of your connection, check that you’ve successfully completed all the prerequisite steps.
Select Data security policies to verify the list of available classification levels, a count of associated data security policies, and sensitivity levels.
If the levels are what you expected, you can now apply these to your site, to Confluence Data Center spaces and pages and Jira Data Center projects and issues.
Change default classification level for content in spaces and projects
Your cloud organization’s default classification level is used as your default classification level for your Data Center products. You can change the default for content within a Confluence space or Jira project. The new space or project default will be applied to any pages, blogs or issues that haven’t already had their classification level manually changed.
Change the default classification level for content in a Confluence space
The classification level default for space content can be changed from the Space tools admin area of each space. The new default classification level will be applied to all relevant content as soon as you select it. Remember, any pages or blogs that have had their classification level set will not be affected.
Make sure you’re logged in to your Confluence Data Center site with space administrator permissions.
Navigate to the space to be updated, and select Space tools from the bottom of the sidebar.
Select Data classification to display a list of available classification levels from your cloud organization.
Select the classification level that you wish to use as the new space default.
Change the default classification level for content in a Jira project
The classification level default for project content can be changed from the Project settings admin area of each project. The new default classification level will be applied to all relevant content as soon as you select it. Remember, any issues that have had their classification level set will not be affected.
Make sure you’re logged in to your Jira Data Center site with project administrator permissions.
Navigate to the project to be updated, and select Project Settings from the bottom of the sidebar.
Select Data classification to display a list of available classification levels from your cloud organization.
Select the classification level that you wish to use as the new project default.
Change the classification level of content
Apply a classification level to Confluence content
You can manually change the classification level of a page or blog in Confluence Data Center. If the space default or cloud organization default applied to your Confluence site changes, your manual changes to page classification levels are not affected.
Create a new page draft in Confluence.
Locate the current classification level, above the page name.
Select the classification level to display a list of all available classification levels.
Select your new classification level from the list.
You can follow steps 2 to 4 for an existing page or blog, but make sure you’re in Edit mode, or the list of available classification won’t be displayed and can’t be changed.
Apply a classification level to Jira content
You can manually change the classification level of an issue in Jira Data Center. If the project default or cloud organization default applied to your Jira site changes, your manual changes to issue classification levels are not affected.
Create a new issue in Jira.
Fill out all your usual fields, and the new field called Classification, which contains a list of all available classification levels.
Select your new classification level from the list.
You can find the classification level of an existing issue in the same dialog of fields when you edit the issue.
If an issue already has a classification set, you can also find and change the classification level from your list of issues. It’s located at the top of the issue being displayed from your list.
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