United States of America: Opened consultation on the revisions made to Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations (SP 800-171)

On 10 May 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a public consultation regarding the revisions made to its preliminary guidelines for protecting sensitive unclassified information which closes on 14 July 2023. The revisions are intended to improve the understanding of how to implement the specific cybersecurity safeguards provided in a closely related NIST publication called SP 800-53 Rev. 5. Noteworthy amendments include updates to reflect the current cybersecurity practices and controls, revised criteria employed by the NIST for developing security requirements, enhanced specificity and alignment of the security requirements in SP 800-171 Rev. 3 with SP 800-53 Rev. 5 to facilitate implementation and assessment, and additional resources to assist implementers in comprehending and evaluating the proposed updates.