New obligations are being imposed on government contractors for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is responsible for developing information security standards and guidelines, recently published Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and Organizations, NIST Special Publication 800-171, released June 2015. Contracting officers for federal agencies will impose the NIST recommended requirements for protecting the confidentiality of CUI:
- when the CUI is resident in nonfederal information systems and organizations;
- when