Where did cybersecurity activities go in NACE Rev. 2.1?

Cybersecurity activities have no standalone class in NACE Rev. 2.1. Paragraph 173 of the manual states that cybersecurity activities were integrated into software development, programming, consultancy and incident and information management work in the new classes of division 62, and that cybersecurity software publishing was added to group 58.2. The integration is a classification decision. A specific reader code is not determined here.

Which classes received the cybersecurity work?

Paragraph 173 names three classes in division 62: class 62.10, computer programming activities; class 62.20, computer consultancy and computer facilities management activities; and class 62.90, other information technology and computer service activities. Cybersecurity activities were integrated into activities of software development, programming, consultancy activities and incident and information management in those classes. The paragraph does not divide the cybersecurity work between the three classes in the summary, and this guide does not invent a division. The explanatory notes for the three classes state, in each case, what the class includes and excludes, and the notes are the place where the boundary between the three classes is drawn for a particular kind of work.

The integration follows the manual’s general approach to the division. Division 62 groups work by the kind of computing service, not by the subject matter the service addresses. Cybersecurity work is therefore classified with the programming, consultancy or other service work it forms part of, rather than in a subject based class of its own. The same logic appears elsewhere in the manual: activities are grouped by the character of the production process and the output, and subject matter alone does not create a class. A reader looking for a single cybersecurity class is looking for a structure the manual deliberately did not adopt.

What about cybersecurity software publishing?

Paragraph 173 adds a separate sentence for publishing. Cybersecurity software publishing was added to group 58.2, software publishing. Group 58.2 sits in division 58, publishing activities, in the new Section J. The distinction is between publishing software and providing a service. Software publishing, including cybersecurity software publishing, is a publishing activity, and it sits with the other publishing activities in Section J. Providing cybersecurity as a service, through programming, consultancy or incident management, sits in division 62 in Section K. The boundary is the publishing and service boundary that runs through the whole split, and it must be read with the version stated, because group 58.2 in NACE Rev. 2 sat in the old Section J with a different section context.

The explanatory note for class 63.10 adds a related exclusion that must not be confused with the publishing point. The note excludes software publishing to group 58.2, and it excludes the provision of applications by downloads or by streaming to the same group. Infrastructure provision, data processing and hosting sit in class 63.10. Publishing sits in group 58.2. The three categories, publishing, service and infrastructure, are kept apart by the notes, and the cybersecurity work follows the same three way division according to the character of the work in question, in general terms.

How should a reader check a cybersecurity entry?

| Question in general terms | Category the manual points to |

|---|---|---|

| Is the work software publishing? | Group 58.2, software publishing, Section J |

| Is the work programming? | Class 62.10, computer programming activities |

| Is the work consultancy or facilities management? | Class 62.20, computer consultancy and computer facilities management activities |

| Is the work another information technology or computer service? | Class 62.90, other information technology and computer service activities |

| Is the work infrastructure, hosting or data processing? | Class 63.10, computing infrastructure, data processing, hosting and related activities |

The table follows paragraphs 168 to 173 and the note for class 63.10. It is a set of questions, not a set of answers for a specific unit. Each row points to a note that must be read, and the notes for the neighbouring classes state the exclusions that separate the rows. The institute or register that holds the record confirms the entry for a specific unit, after the notes have been read. No row in the table should be quoted as a determination.

What does the split not decide?

The letter J is the clearest warning in the whole classification that a section letter on its own never decides a code for a specific unit. In NACE Rev. 2 the letter J meant information and communication. In NACE Rev. 2.1 the same letter means publishing, broadcasting and content production and distribution activities, and the letter K carries the other half of the old section. A code must therefore always be read with its version stated. The classification is statistical only. Outside what the code decides are tax, licensing, social security, collective agreement and funding questions, and the institute or register holding the record alone confirms the entry.

Where is a moved code confirmed?

The check for this subject runs through the manual, the table, and the register. The new structure comes from the manual, the recorded move for a class comes from the correspondence table, and the entry actually held comes from the institute or register. No step in that sequence can be skipped by quoting a section letter.

Look for cybersecurity work inside the programming, consultancy and publishing notes, not in a class of its own, and confirm the entry with the institute or register that holds it.