Why Data Classification Matters: ISEC7 CLASSIFY Now Extends to SharePoint
- ISEC7 Government Services
- Jul 16
- 6 min read
In today’s digital-first and compliance-heavy world, data classification has evolved from a "nice-to-have" policy into an operational and regulatory necessity. Either for a public agency protecting national interests or a global organization handling sensitive customer data, the ability to properly classify information at the point of creation is fundamental to enforcing security, ensuring compliance, and enabling effective information governance.
Today, we are proud to announce that our solution, ISEC7 CLASSIFY, now extends its capabilities to Microsoft SharePoint, delivering consistent classification across all core collaboration surfaces in Microsoft 365.
But before diving into this major update, let’s explore what, why, and who of data classification, and why every organization that handles sensitive data should care.
What Is Data Classification?
Data classification is the process of identifying and labeling information based on its level of sensitivity, business value, or regulatory requirement. It ensures that data is handled, stored, and shared appropriately, aligning with security policies, compliance frameworks, and operational risk controls.
In practical terms, classification often results in markings being applied to emails, documents, or records, which in turn drive automated policy enforcement, such as encryption, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules, retention schedules, or access control.
A common classification schema might include:
Public – Suitable for unrestricted sharing
Internal – For internal use only
Confidential – Sensitive business or operational data
Restricted – Legal, financial, or personal data with regulatory obligations
Classified – National or military information governed by CUI or NATO standards
... or the CISA-recommended Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) protocol; but classification schema is not limited to the above and could be customized to meet any organization’s requirements in terms of classification.
Classification goes beyond simply labeling data; it empowers organizations to make smarter security decisions and minimize the risk of human error.
Why Classification Matters
In many organizations, the volume and velocity of information being created is staggering, and the threats to that data are growing just as fast. Whether it's a misdirected email, a misconfigured SharePoint site, or a compromised device, the risk of data leakage is constant.
Without classification, organizations struggle to enforce security policies in a consistent and intelligent manner. It becomes difficult to ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), or national secrecy laws that demand precise control over data handling. The absence of clear classification also undermines trust with citizens, customers, and partners, as sensitive information may be mishandled or exposed. Finally, when incidents occur, the lack of classification prevents teams from responding with the forensic clarity needed to trace what happened, who accessed what, and how containment should proceed.
Classification empowers both technical controls (e.g., encryption, access policies) and human awareness (“Think twice before sharing it!”); it is the bridge between data governance and day-to-day operations, and it becomes increasingly mandatory.
Who Needs Data Classification?
While every organization benefits from classification, some must implement it due to industry-specific, regulatory, or national security obligations.
Government & Public Sector organizations, especially in defense and intelligence, must comply with strict information protection frameworks such as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in the United States and NATO classification schemes. Civil agencies also manage highly sensitive data, including citizen records, legal files, and regulatory communications, all of which must remain protected under data sovereignty and privacy mandates.
Defense contractors and critical infrastructure providers, including companies in aerospace, energy, telecommunications, and national infrastructure, face mandatory requirements under frameworks like CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification), ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) SP 800-171. These organizations are trusted with sensitive government and operational data that, if mishandled, could have national or global implications.
State and local government handling personal or sensitive data are increasingly subject to federal, state and local data protection laws, including GDPR in Europe and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the state of California. These organizations must classify and govern personal information across regions, ensuring appropriate access, processing, and retention in line with legal expectations and privacy rights.
What ISEC7 CLASSIFY Delivers
ISEC7 CLASSIFY is a lightweight, easy-to-use classification platform that ensures users correctly label and handle sensitive documents across all office applications and devices. Designed to meet modern data sensitivity regulations, it plays a critical role in helping organizations comply with recent cybersecurity executive orders that require strict data marking and dissemination controls for classified information. By embedding classification into daily workflows, ISEC7 CLASSIFY supports secure collaboration without adding friction for end users. Key benefits include full compliance with government data marking standards, support for tagging in Zero Trust (ZT) architecture, and CLASSIFY for Outlook.
The solution requires no additional infrastructure, operates consistently across desktop and mobile (iOS and Android), and provides the same user experience in both native and web-based Microsoft Office apps. This makes it an ideal tool for organizations seeking comprehensive, regulation-aligned data protection across all endpoints.
Integration with ISEC7 SPHERE
As part of the ISEC7 digital workplace ecosystem, ISEC7 CLASSIFY works in conjunction with ISEC7’s proprietary management and monitoring solution ISEC7 SPHERE, providing classification statistics and monitoring for compliance. ISEC7 SPHERE serves as a central repository for classification markings, caveats, Special Access Program (SAP) markings, and other marking definitions, so together with ISEC7 CLASSIFY, you can easily edit and configure classifications for different national laws and regulations, and through the ISEC7 CLASSIFY editor in ISEC7 SPHERE, you can see who visited and marked what sites, pages, documents, etc.
ISEC7 SPHERE will not only allow to manage and deploy classifications centrally, from its single pane of glass console, but also receive and display statistical information for every single employee using ISEC7 CLASSIFY, including “last activity” and well as classification metrics and reports. This allows organizations to maintain an auditable repository where emails/documents with sensitive information have been sent.
Audit & Compliance Visibility
Every classification decision is logged for auditing, incident response, and compliance review. Organizations gain visibility into who is classifying what, and whether policies are working as intended.
Policy Customization & Framework Mapping
ISEC7 CLASSIFY supports full customization of classification policies, enabling organizations to align with a wide range of regulatory and operational frameworks. This includes Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in the United States and NATO classification levels such as Restricted and Secret. It also supports broader compliance goals related to GDPR, NIST, and ISO 27001, ensuring that classification practices meet both national security standards and international data protection requirements.
Now Extending Classification to Microsoft SharePoint
Until now, organizations could classify documents located on SharePoint, but the actual pages and sites were often overlooked, and this gap created a risk, as this is one of the most widely used collaboration tools in the enterprise, and it is increasingly where critical content is stored, shared, and surfaced.
With that latest enhancement, ISEC7 CLASSIFY now extends classification to SharePoint suite banner, sites, pages and document library, bringing consistent labeling, policy enforcement, and visibility to this vital part of Microsoft 365.
ISEC7 CLASSIFY now allows organizations to add classification and caveats banner messages to SharePoint Online modern sites. These banners serve as clear, persistent visual indicators of a site’s sensitivity level, such as “Confidential,” “Restricted,” or “CUI – NOFORN” displayed at the top of every page within the site, the banner reinforces awareness for all users interacting with the content, helping prevent accidental misuse, oversharing, or policy violations.
In addition, site owners are empowered to customize these banners based on the specific classification of the site. They can modify the caveat text (e.g., “NATO RESTRICTED – Eyes Only”), adjust the font size, and define the height of the banner to suit the organization’s visual standards and clarity needs. This flexibility ensures that classification markings are both prominent and adaptable to different use cases—whether the site is for internal HR policies or sensitive defense collaboration. Together, these features bring greater visibility, accountability, and control to SharePoint-based content management.
A Unique, Unified Classification Experience
ISEC7 CLASSIFY for SharePoint delivers true end-to-end classification across the Microsoft 365 landscape.
The goal is to make classification consistent across all platforms, applications, and users so that they encounter the same classification logic and options, ensuring reliability and minimizing confusion.
Classification should be mandatory where necessary, as with the US Department of Defense’s CMMC 2.0, which applies to all contractors and subcontractors within the DoD and requires that CUI be protected through proper marking and dissemination. Requiring users to classify content before sending or saving helps prevent accidental oversights and human error and allows organizations to embed compliance into everyday workflows to reduce the risk of data leakage.
Classification should also be actionable. It’s not just about labels, it’s about enabling downstream enforcement of security and governance policies, such as encryption, retention, and access control, in ways that reflect the sensitivity of the information.
Lastly, classification must be user-friendly. It should support users rather than slow them down, fitting naturally into their workflows so they can focus on their work while still protecting sensitive information in line with organizational policies.
As cyber threats, regulatory requirements, and digital collaboration continue to grow, data classification is no longer optional but foundational. And as Microsoft 365 becomes the digital workspace for millions of users, classification must cover not just documents and emails, but every collaborative surface, including SharePoint.
ISEC7 CLASSIFY for SharePoint is built to meet this challenge, helping the public sector, defense, and enterprise customers around the world enforce information protection policies with confidence. If you’re ready to bring classification to the heart of your collaboration strategy, contact us to learn more, or try ISEC7 CLASSIFY in your Microsoft 365 tenant today.