What is NIST 800-171?

NIST Special Publication 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations, provides a set of security requirements for protecting the confidentiality of CUI when it is stored, processed, or transmitted by nonfederal systems and organizations. It's commonly used as a baseline standard for contractors and other entities that handle CUI for the U.S. federal government, outlining specific security controls across areas like access control, awareness and training, audit and accountability, configuration management, identification and authentication, incident response, maintenance, media protection, physical protection, risk assessment, security assessment, system and communications protection, and system and information integrity. Compliance ensures sensitive government data is adequately protected.