What is 800-171?

NIST Special Publication 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations, provides a set of security requirements for protecting the confidentiality of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) when the information resides in nonfederal systems and organizations. These requirements are often mandated for contractors working with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agencies. Compliance with NIST 800-171 involves implementing specific security controls across areas such as access control, awareness and training, audit and accountability, configuration management, identification and authentication, incident response, maintenance, media protection, physical protection, personnel security, risk assessment, security assessment, system and communications protection, and system and information integrity. The goal is to safeguard CUI from unauthorized disclosure.