Department of Justice Guide on Security for Legal Agents

Annex A: Definitions

Assets
All tangible or intangible things of the Government of Canada including but not limited to information in all forms (written, verbal or visual) and media, networks, systems, material, real property, financial resources, employee trust, public confidence and national and international reputation.
Breach of security
A breach of government security. Includes but is not limited to:
  • unauthorized access to, disclosure, modification, use, interruption, removal, or destruction of sensitive information or assets, causing a loss of confidentiality, integrity, availability or value;
  • any action, conduct, threat or gesture of a person toward an employee in the workplace or an individual within federal facilities that caused harm or injury to that employee or individual; and
  • an event causing a loss of integrity or availability of government services or activities.
Classified Information
The security designation applied to Government of Canada information related to the national interest (i.e., concerning the defence and maintenance of the social, political or economic stability of Canada) that may qualify for an exemption or exclusion from disclosure under the Access to Information Act or Privacy Act. The unauthorized disclosure of Classified Information could reasonably be expected to cause injury to the national interest. Classified information is categorized based on the gravity of injury caused by unauthorized disclosure and is marked accordingly – i.e., Confidential (simple injury), Secret (serious injury) and Top Secret (exceptionally grave injury).
Cyber security
The body of technologies, processes, practices and response and mitigation measures designed to protect electronic information and information infrastructure from mischief, unauthorized use, or disruption.
Individual Security Screening
The process of conducting a security screening activity and evaluating an individual’s reliability and/or loyalty to Canada in support of a decision to grant, grant with a waiver, deny, or revoke a Reliability Status, or security clearance at a specified Classified level.
Information technology
Any equipment or system that is used in the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of information or data. It includes all matters concerned with the design, development, installation and implementation of information systems and applications.
Justice Canada Legal Security Assessment
A Legal Security Assessment is a departmental security assessment conducted to establish a baseline understanding of a legal agent firm’s organizational, physical, and personnel security posture. It replaces and consolidates previous requirements such as the Designated Organization Screening (DOS), Facility Security Clearance, and Document Safeguarding Capability (DSC). The JCLSA is required for only Protected C, or Classified level clearances.
Legal agent
A private sector law practitioner, including lawyers, law firms, notaries and notary offices, law professors or former judges, as applicable, appointed by, or under the authority of, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to provide specific legal services to the Crown. Unless otherwise specified, legal agent refers to both the individual identified as authorized counsel and to the legal entity or firm of which the individual is a part.
Law Society and Professional Regulatory Body
As outlined in the legal agent terms and conditions this is the means the body governing lawyers or notaries in Canada, in a given province or territory or the body governing lawyers or notaries, in a given jurisdiction.
Physical Security
The use of physical safeguards to prevent or delay unauthorized access to government information and assets, to detect attempted and actual unauthorized access and to activate appropriate responses.
Protected Information
Information is categorized as “Protected" when unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause injury outside of the national interest, defined as the security and the social, political and economic stability of Canada. This information may qualify for an exemption or exclusion from disclosure under the Access to Information Act or Privacy Act. Refer to the Treasury Board Standard on Security Categorization and the Justice Canada Handling and Safeguarding Information (Annex B) for detailed information.
Reliability Status
The minimum standard of security screening required for individuals to have unsupervised access to Protected government information, assets or work sites. Security screening for Reliability Status appraises an individual’s honesty and whether he or she can be trusted to protect the government’s interests.
Security Clearance
The standard of security screening required for an individual to have access to Classified government information, assets or work sites. Security screening for a security clearance appraises an individual’s loyalty to Canada and his or her reliability as it relates to that loyalty.
Sensitive information or asset
Information or asset that if compromised would reasonably be expected to cause an injury. This includes all information that falls within the exemption or exclusion criteria under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. This also includes controlled goods as well as other information and assets that have regulatory or statutory prohibitions and controls.