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ARTICLE · 20 MAY 2024

Foundational Cybersecurity Standards For Contractors Updated

Holland & Knight
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the third revision of its Special Publication (SP) 800-171, "Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information...

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector
Eric Crusius
Eric Crusius
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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the third revision of its Special Publication (SP) 800-171, "Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations." This publication forms the basis of cybersecurity standards that contractors must meet when handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) new Cybersecurity Readiness Factor. Further, DOD's forthcoming Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program keys NIST SP 800-171 to achieve Level 2 certifications (though it is expected that CMMC will initially use the previous revision of SP 800-171 in the CMMC program).

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