Topic

Cable colours

Applicable to

Official, Protected

History

Priority

recommended

Sep 2023

OFFICIAL: Sensitive and PROTECTED cables are coloured neither salmon pink nor red.

References to ‘OFFICIAL systems’, ‘OFFICIAL mobile devices’, ‘OFFICIAL cables’ and ‘OFFICIAL wall outlet boxes’ were replaced with OFFICIAL: Sensitive terminology (e.g. OFFICIAL: Sensitive mobile devices) to correctly reflect the highest sensitivity of data such systems, devices and infrastructure can process, store and communicate (i.e. up to Business Impact Level 2).

Dec 2021

OFFICIAL and PROTECTED cables are coloured neither salmon pink nor red.

Miscellaneous changes were made to rationale and security controls throughout the publication. This included:

• A review from the Using the Information Security Manual chapter through to the Guidelines for Media chapter.

• Security controls suitable for all audiences have been identified with the ‘All’ applicability marking while additional security controls suitable for just government audiences have been identified with the O, P, S and TS applicability markings.

• Security controls suitable for specific classifications have been amended to include their classification(s) in the wording of the security controls to reduce the reliance on applicability markings to confer suitability.

• Tables in security controls have been converted into prose to allow for inclusion in the SSP annex template and the XML list of security controls.

• The use of ‘official’ and ‘highly classified’ terminology has been replaced with specific classifications to remove ambiguity.

• Security controls relating to high assurance ICT equipment have had their applicability narrowed to ‘S, TS’ reflecting that they are intended for the protection of SECRET and TOP SECRET systems and data.

Mar 2021

The cable colours in the following table are used (see source document for referenced table).

Security control 0926 was amended to remove specific cable colours for PROTECTED and below systems. Moving forward, only highly classified systems will have designated cable colours.

Jan 2021

The cable colours in the following table are used (see source document for referenced table).

Oct 2019

The cable colours in the following table are used. (See source document for referenced table)

Security control 0186 was merged with security control 0926.

Sep 2019

The cable colours in the following table are used. (See source document for referenced table)

Aug 2019

The cable colours in the following table are used. (See source document for referenced table)

Security control 0926 was modified to reflect the absence of a specified colour for colour-based protective markings for official and sensitive information within the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF).

Jul 2019

The cable colours in the following table are used in non-TOP SECRET areas. (See source document for referenced table)

2015

Agencies should comply with the cable colours specified in the following table.

2010

It is recommended agencies comply with the cable colours specified in the following table.