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Every piece of information we create or work with comes with decisions: Who should see it? Can it be shared more broadly? Does it require particular care? Often, the answers are clear from the context. At other times, they may be less obvious.

Sensitivity labels are one way to make it easier to recognize when information requires different levels of care as we create, use and share it. They provide a consistent way to make those differences more visible. 

What might these levels look like in practice?

Sensitivity labels provide an at-a-glance indication of the level of care information requires. The examples below illustrate what this might look like in everyday situations:

  • Public: Think information meant to be seen by anyone, such as a public event announcement or content published on the University website.
  • Internal: Think content intended for people within the University or a particular workgroup, such as an internal working document.
  • Confidential: Think information that should only be available to people who need it for their work, such as a student matter discussed in confidence, certain research information requiring limited access, or sensitive employee or administrative information.
  • Highly confidential: Think highly sensitive information requiring tightly controlled access, such as Social Insurance Numbers, health insurance identification numbers, credit card numbers, passwords or certain research data involving highly sensitive participant information.

A sensitivity label describes the level of care required for information. It does not evaluate the ideas, teaching, research or academic conclusions expressed in a document.

Why context matters

Consider the variety of information you might encounter in a day: an open invitation to a speaking event (Public), course (Internal), research material (Confidential), sensitive administrative documents or information about students or employees (highly confidential). Some can be shared broadly; other information requires greater care.

Taking appropriate care of University information also helps protect the people behind it, including our students, employees, researchers and partners.

Making the level of care more visible can help us handle University information more consistently as it moves between people and digital spaces.