NIST SP 800-171 Compliance
Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)
What is the NIST SP 800-171 standard?
NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-171 defines security requirements for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in non-federal systems and organizations.
It ensures that contractors and partners handling government data can preserve confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and it serves as the foundation for CMMC requirements.
Key NIST SP 800-171 requirements:
- AC – Access Control: Restrict access to authorized users and manage usage rights.
- IA – Identification and Authentication: Uniquely identify and authenticate users and devices.
- AU – Audit and Accountability: Record, monitor, and report activities affecting CUI.
- SC – System and Communications Protection: Protect data during storage and transmission.
- IR – Incident Response: Detect, report, and respond to security incidents.
How Visual Guard facilitates NIST SP 800-171 compliance:
Role-based access control (RBAC):
Enforce fine-grained permissions based on roles, departments, or projects to ensure only authorized users access CUI.
Strong and multi-factor authentication (MFA):
Apply strong authentication policies using passwords, MFA, and integration with Entra ID, Active Directory, or federated identity providers.
Audit and monitoring:
Log access events, permission changes, and sensitive operations in tamper-proof, timestamped audit trails.
Compliance reporting:
Generate audit-ready reports for DoD, CMMC, and internal compliance reviews.
Real-time monitoring and alerts:
Detect and respond to suspicious activities or unauthorized access attempts using configurable alerts.
Integration with external identity providers:
Enable single sign-on (SSO) across applications to simplify identity management and improve traceability.
Detailed technical capabilities
Identity and Access Management
- Centralized role and user management across applications
- Dynamic, context-aware access rules (role, project, device, location, time)
- Automatic provisioning and deprovisioning through directory synchronization
Authentication and Security Policies
- Password, Windows authentication, Entra ID, or federated identity providers
- Native support for MFA and SSO
- Conditional access policies to reduce unauthorized usage
Audit and Accountability
- Immutable, timestamped audit logs
- Exportable logs for compliance verification
- Integration with SIEM tools (Splunk, Elastic, etc.)
Monitoring and Compliance
- Preconfigured compliance and access control reports
- Real-time alerts on anomalies or policy violations
- Tools for periodic rights review and recertification
Use case
Protecting CUI in a defense contractor environment
A U.S. defense contractor must comply with NIST SP 800-171 to safeguard Controlled Unclassified Information across multiple internal and project systems.
How Visual Guard helped:
- Enforced strict role- and project-based access restrictions for sensitive datasets.
- Required MFA for privileged and remote access to CUI.
- Monitored and logged every access and modification to sensitive records.
- Generated compliance reports for DoD and external auditors.
Result: The contractor secured all CUI, reduced cybersecurity risks, and demonstrated NIST SP 800-171 compliance, ensuring continued eligibility for government contracts.