Guide for Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories, Volume 2: Appendices
Section 4.2.3 and 4.4.2. > C.2 Rationale and Factors for Services Delivery Support Information > C.2.6 Public Affairs > C.2.6.1 Customer Services Information Type

C.2.6.1 Customer Services Information Type

Customer Service supports activities associated with providing and managing the delivery of
information and support to the government's customers. The recommended security
categorization for the customer service information type is as follows:
Security Category = {(confidentiality, Low), (integrity, Low), (availability, Low)}
The confidentiality impact level is the effect of unauthorized disclosure of customer service
information on the ability of responsible agencies to provide and manage the delivery of
information and support to the government's customers. Most customer service information is
likely to be in the public domain and poses no confidentiality impact. In most cases,
unauthorized disclosure of customer service information will have at most a limited adverse
effect on agency operations, assets, or individuals.
Special Factors Affecting Confidentiality Impact Determination: Some customer service information
may include customer-provided information covered by the provisions of the Privacy Act of
1974. The Privacy Act Information provisional impact levels are documented in the Personal
Identity and Authentication information type. Unauthorized disclosure of large volumes of
information protected under the Privacy Act can be expected to have a serious to severe effect on
public confidence in the agency. Actions taken that are intended to establish blame, compensate
victims, or repair damage done with the exposed information can cause serious disruption of an
agency's mission capability. In such cases, the confidentiality impact can be moderate.
Recommended Confidentiality Impact Level: The provisional confidentiality impact level
recommended for customer service information is low.
not on the time required to detect the modification or destruction of information. Typically, the
adverse effects of unauthorized modification or destruction of customer service information on
overall agency mission functions or public confidence in the agency are limited. The more
serious integrity impacts become increasingly likely as E-government initiatives progress.
Typically, the unauthorized modification or destruction of information affecting external
communications (e.g., web pages, electronic mail) will result in limited adverse affect on
operations or public confidence in the agency and the damage to most missions would usually be
limited.
Special Factors Affecting Integrity Impact Determination: An increasing proportion of customer
service activities are interactive. Consequently, there is a potential for customer actions being
taken based on modified or incomplete information. Similarly, unauthorized modification or
deletion of customer-supplied information can result in government mishandling of interactions
with customers. If this occurs on a large-scale serious damage to public confidence in the
agency may result. In such cases, a moderate integrity may be associated with customer service
information.
Recommended Integrity Impact Level: The provisional integrity impact level recommended for
customer service information is low.
mission, not on the time required to re-establish access to the customer service information. The
effects of disruption of access to or use of customer service information can usually be In
addition, customer service operations are not typically tolerant of delay. Even temporary loss of
availability of customer service information is likely to disrupt customer operations. In most
cases, disruption of access to customer service information can be expected to have only a
limited adverse effect on agency operations, agency assets, or individuals.
Special Factors Affecting Availability Impact Determination: While most outages will result in only
limited adverse effects on government operations, repeated outages can have a serious adverse
effect on public confidence in the agency. In such cases, the availability impact might be
moderate.
Recommended Availability Impact Level: The provisional availability impact level recommended for
customer service information is low.