The Directorate of Communications' internal information regime rests on two directives. The basis of both is Art. 19 of Presidential Decree No. 14.
The Information Security Policies Directive
Purpose (Art. 1): to take the necessary measures on information and data security within the Directorate and to determine the policies, principles, procedures and rules.
Scope (Art. 2): all personnel in the central, provincial and overseas organisation of the Directorate, together with all other users given authority, for any reason, to use the Directorate's information resources.
The Three Basic Elements - Art. 5
The Directive defines information security as a concept made up of three basic elements named confidentiality, integrity and availability. If any one of those three is harmed, a security weakness arises.
| Element | Definition |
|---|---|
| Confidentiality | Preventing information from falling into the hands of unauthorised persons and protecting it against unauthorised access |
| Integrity | Information not being altered by unauthorised persons |
| Availability | Information being accessible and usable by authorised persons when needed |
The Principles of Information Security - Art. 8
Everyone who uses the Directorate's information processing infrastructure and accesses its information resources is obliged to comply with those principles. The first two:
- (a) In personal and electronic communication and in exchanges of information with third parties, employees protect the confidentiality of the Directorate's information.
- (b) Top secret, secret and restricted information is not sent by post, fax or electronically without the necessary security measure being taken.
The EBYS Directive
Purpose (Art. 1): to create the institutional archive by moving the Directorate's official correspondence and communication processes into the electronic environment, thereby providing effectiveness, efficiency, traceability and cost savings.
Basis (Art. 3): Art. 19 of Presidential Decree No. 14 and Art. 36 of the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles to Be Applied in Official Correspondence (Presidential Decision 9/6/2020-2646).
Principles of Correspondence - Art. 5
- (a) Documents created in the electronic environment are prepared, by their characteristics, structure, form and format, in accordance with the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles to Be Applied in Official Correspondence and its Guide.
- (b) Official correspondence is conducted with documents prepared electronically in accordance with the e-Correspondence Technical Guide and signed with a secure electronic signature; those documents are shared and stored electronically.
When Does Paper Come In? - Art. 6
The Directorate's official correspondence, within the institution or outside it, is conducted through EBYS; but in compulsory cases or extraordinary situations official correspondence is conducted with documents signed by hand. In that case:
- Documents are drawn up in at least two copies, so that the initialled copy remains at the administration preparing them.
- The phrase "CERTIFIED TRUE COPY" is placed at a suitable point on the document to be reproduced and is signed by the authorised officer stating name, surname, title and date.
- A document reproduced in that way is accepted as the original document.
Scope: The Chain of Custody
EBYS covers the processes of an external letter arriving at the General Registry Service, its delivery to the unit concerned, the production of a document and its dispatch to the addressee, and the creation of internal correspondence in the system, together with archiving, access and destruction.
The Directive defines the chain of custody as "the process from the preparation of the document to its disposal". A document, in turn, is defined as a record which, by its content, relationship and format, constitutes evidence for the function or transaction to which it belongs and thereby preserves the chain of custody.
Why Does It Matter to a Journalist?
Summary
The Information Security Policies Directive builds information security on the triad of confidentiality, integrity and availability and brings within its scope everyone who uses the Directorate's information resources. The EBYS Directive requires official correspondence to be conducted with documents complying with the e-Correspondence Technical Guide and bearing a secure electronic signature; paper correspondence comes into play only in compulsory and extraordinary situations.