Update Issue Security levels on existing work items in Jira Cloud

Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the cloud platform.

Summary

Learn how to apply security levels to existing work items and automate security settings for new ones.

Solution

Update security levels on existing work items

There are a few ways to proceed, depending on how many items you want to update.

Update work items one by one

  1. Navigate to your work item

  2. Select the padlock icon in the work item view

  3. Choose the relevant security level

Update work items in bulk

  1. Search for the relevant work items via JQL

  2. Select ... (More options) > Bulk change work items

  3. Choose Edit work items and update the Security level to the appropriate value

Please refer to the article Edit multiple work items for more details.

Set issue security at work item creation

The most straightforward option is to use an Automation rule to set the Security level whenever work items are created. An example rule might look like the following:

  1. Trigger: Work item created

  2. (Optional) Work item fields condition:

    • If needed, set this to a value that will filter for work items that need the chosen security level

  3. Action: Edit work item

    • Set the Security level field to your chosen value

For Jira Service Management projects

You can add security levels to service requests in a similar manner to other work items. For more details, please refer to: Add a security level to request types.

Updated on June 24, 2025

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