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Compartmentalization (information security)
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<p>Compartmentalization, in <a href="/facts/Information_security/horlrCln">information security</a>, whether public or private, is the limiting of <a href="/facts/Access_to_information/pvfAVnFl">access to information</a> to persons or other entities on a <a href="/facts/Need-to-know/DoHevG3F">need-to-know</a> basis to perform certain tasks. </p><p>It originated in the handling of <a href="/facts/Classified_information/og7wn3tD">classified information</a> in <a href="/facts/Military/kgNmLUnN">military</a> and <a href="/facts/Intelligence_(information_gathering)/FsILyU4n">intelligence</a> applications. It dates back to <a href="/facts/Classical_antiquity/JBq8vEX9">antiquity</a>, and was successfully used to keep the secret of <a href="/facts/Greek_fire/7VshV9hr">Greek fire</a>. </p><p>The basis for compartmentalization is the idea that, if fewer people know the details of a mission or task, the risk or likelihood that such information will be compromised or fall into the hands of the opposition is decreased. Hence, varying levels of clearance within organizations exist. Yet, even if someone has the highest clearance, certain "compartmentalized" information, identified by <a href="/facts/Code_name/MRq0mo4b">codewords</a> referring to particular types of secret information, may still be restricted to certain operators, even with a lower overall security clearance. Information marked this way is said to be codeword–classified. One famous example of this was the <a href="/facts/Ultra_(cryptography)/cPLKCBEn">Ultra</a> secret, where documents were marked "Top Secret Ultra": "Top Secret" marked its security level, and the "Ultra" keyword further restricted its readership to only those cleared to read "Ultra" documents. </p><p>Compartmentalization is now also used in commercial <a href="/facts/Security_engineering/A2lhQ8YF">security engineering</a> as a technique to protect information such as <a href="/facts/Medical_record/M6L26mk8">medical records</a>. </p>