Introduction
In the realm of government services, securing sensitive data is paramount. While classified information receives the highest levels of protection, there exists another category of sensitive data referred to as Controlled Unclassified Information, or CUI, that requires strict handling to prevent unauthorized access and misuse.
Understanding what CUI is, how it operates in real-world scenarios, and why it is essential for compliance is crucial for government agencies and their contractors. Also, products like ISEC7 CLASSIFY provide a robust solution for organizations to properly classify, manage, and enforce CUI policies across their environments.
This article will explore what CUI is, practical examples of its usage, its importance, and how ISEC7 CLASSIFY can help organizations enforce compliance.
What Is Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)?
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) refers to government-created or owned information that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls consistent with applicable laws, regulations, and government-wide policies but does not meet the standards for classified information.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) oversees the CUI Program, which standardizes how federal agencies, and their contractors handle sensitive but unclassified data. The goal is to prevent unauthorized access or distribution that could compromise national security, privacy, or other government operations.
CUI encompasses a wide range of unclassified yet sensitive information that requires protection due to its potential impact on national security, public trust, and government operations. This includes critical infrastructure data, such as power grid security details and transportation safety reports, which, if exposed, could pose significant threats to public safety.
Legal information, including law enforcement reports, court documents, and regulatory compliance data, must also be protected to prevent unauthorized access that could compromise judicial proceedings or investigations. Additionally, financial records like government budgeting reports, financial contracts, and taxpayer information require stringent handling to prevent fraud or misuse.
Another crucial category is export-controlled information, which covers sensitive technology and trade secrets that fall under export control laws, ensuring that critical innovations and defense-related materials do not fall into the wrong hands.
Finally, health information, such as medical records of military personnel and pandemic response strategies, must be safeguarded to maintain both privacy and operational security in healthcare services. Proper classification and enforcement of CUI policies ensure that such information remains protected while allowing authorized personnel to access it as needed for government operations.
Why Is CUI Compliance Crucial for Government Organizations?
Failing to properly manage CUI can lead to legal repercussions, data breaches, and national security risks.
Legal and Regulatory Requirements
Government agencies and contractors handling CUI must comply with Executive Order 13556, which mandates standardized protection measures to ensure sensitive government information remains secure. Compliance with NIST 800-171 is crucial for non-federal entities handling CUI, as it establishes the minimum cybersecurity standards necessary to safeguard data from unauthorized access, cyber threats, and insider risks.
Additionally, the defense industrial base (DIB) must adhere to CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification), a framework that assesses and certifies an organization’s ability to protect CUI at various maturity levels. These regulatory requirements are designed to strengthen national security, protect government operations, and maintain public trust by enforcing strict security protocols for handling and sharing sensitive unclassified information.
Preventing Data Breaches and Insider Threats
Without proper CUI protection, sensitive government information could be accessed by cybercriminals, foreign entities, or malicious insiders, leading to espionage, financial fraud, or identity theft.
Insider threats pose a major risk—employees or contractors with access to sensitive data may intentionally or unintentionally misuse it, leading to leaks or unauthorized disclosures. For example, a disgruntled employee might extract sensitive procurement data or law enforcement records for personal gain, exposing vulnerabilities within government operations. Implementing strong CUI policies helps mitigate such risks by enforcing access controls, monitoring user activity, and ensuring compliance with security protocols.
Protecting National Security and Public Trust
Even though CUI isn’t classified, its unauthorized exposure can significantly impact national security, public safety, and trust in government institutions. Adversaries, including foreign intelligence agencies and cybercriminals, can exploit leaked CUI to gain strategic advantages, infiltrate government systems, or conduct targeted cyberattacks. For instance, exposing sensitive procurement details related to military equipment or infrastructure projects could allow adversaries to anticipate government strategies and counteract them. Additionally, insider threats—whether through negligence or malicious intent—pose a substantial risk, as individuals with access to CUI might misuse or leak information for personal or ideological reasons. Maintaining strict CUI controls ensures that critical information remains protected, reducing the risk of espionage, operational disruptions, and the erosion of public confidence in government institutions.
Ensuring Consistency Across Agencies and Contractors
With multiple agencies and external partners handling government data, consistent classification and enforcement standards are necessary to ensure a unified approach to safeguarding sensitive information. Without a structured framework, different organizations may adopt varying security measures, leading to inconsistencies that create vulnerabilities in data protection. These gaps can be exploited by cybercriminals, foreign adversaries, or even insider threats, increasing the risk of data breaches, unauthorized disclosures, and potential national security threats. Standardized enforcement ensures that all entities handling CUI maintain the same level of security, fostering better collaboration, regulatory compliance, and a more resilient defense against evolving threats.
How Does CUI Work?
Let’s use some practical examples to illustrate how CUI works.
Defense Industrial Base Handling Technical Data
A DIB contractor working with the Department of Defense (DoD) receives blueprints for a new aircraft part. While the information isn’t classified, it falls under export-controlled technical data, meaning its distribution is restricted under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The contractor must ensure that only authorized personnel access the data and prevent sharing with unauthorized entities.
Law Enforcement Data in Federal Agencies
A federal law enforcement agency collects reports on ongoing investigations that contain personally identifiable information (PII) and operational details. While the information doesn’t qualify as classified, it must be secured and shared only with authorized personnel to prevent risks to law enforcement operations and public safety.
Healthcare Information in the VA System
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) manages medical records for millions of veterans. Some of this data isn’t classified, but it must still be safeguarded under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other regulations. Unauthorized access or exposure of veterans' medical information could lead to compliance violations and security breaches.
How ISEC7 CLASSIFY Helps Organizations Deploying CUI
To maintain CUI compliance, agencies and contractors need tools that provide consistent classification, secure handling, and policy enforcement.
ISEC7 CLASSIFY ensures employees properly mark and distribute sensitive documents while using any Microsoft Office application, including Outlook and Office 365, across desktop and mobile devices. It helps organizations comply with data regulations such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ensuring secure and compliant handling of classified information.
ISEC7 Classify helps organizations comply, straight out of the box, with the following data classification regulations including DoDI 5200.48 Controlled Unclassified Information, Executive Order 13526 and DHS MD 11042 Safeguarding Sensitive but Unclassified Information.
ISEC7 CLASSIFY is a simple-to-deploy, lightweight solution available as a Microsoft Office Add-in and hosted on Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS). It enforces document marking and prevents emails from being sent without classification, applying protection to the message body, subject, and attachments. The solution also verifies recipient domains, distinguishing between trusted and untrusted email addresses, with the ability to block untrusted recipients. Additionally, it alerts users when classified information is sent outside a verified list, enhancing data security and compliance.
For Microsoft 365 users, ISEC7 CLASSIFY will present the same way enabling common user experience for web and desktop. For mobile users, it is enabled within the ISEC7 MAIL mobile app for Android and iOS devices so that employees can properly mark their and disseminate their information regardless of work platform.
Integration with ISEC7 SPHERE
ISEC7 CLASSIFY integrates with ISEC7 SPHERE, providing service availability monitoring, compliance monitoring and auditing, and classification user marking statistics. It also enables centralized management of classification markings, ensuring organizations maintain visibility, control, and compliance over their data classification processes.
CUI classification schemas are easily updated within the CLASSIFY editor, ensuring that any CUI Registry updates can be quickly implemented. For administrators and information security professionals, all marked media receives its own unique tracking id for full auditing and statistics to understand where CUI is being transmitted.
How ISEC7 CLASSIFY Complements Microsoft Purview
Government agencies and contractors handle vast amounts of Controlled Unclassified Information — data that, while not classified, still requires strict protection due to regulatory, legal, and security concerns.
Microsoft Purview Information Protection helps by providing sensitivity labels, allowing organizations to classify emails, documents, and spreadsheets based on sensitivity levels, regulatory requirements (such as GDPR), and internal policies. However, these labels do not apply persistent markings, which can cause confusion in enforcement and handling.
This is where ISEC7 CLASSIFY significantly enhances Microsoft Purview. While Purview’s labels allow organizations to tag data for later enforcement through Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies, ISEC7 CLASSIFY ensures that these markings remain embedded, providing immediate, visible classification and clear handling instructions for recipients. This means government agencies and contractors always maintain control over CUI, no matter where the data is sent.
Additionally, a critical gap in Microsoft’s sensitivity labels is the lack of recipient validation—they don’t confirm whether a recipient is authorized to receive sensitive information. ISEC7 CLASSIFY closes this security gap by performing domain verification, distinguishing between trusted and untrusted recipients, and even blocking emails from being sent to unauthorized contacts. This ensures that only approved personnel can access sensitive government data, significantly reducing the risks of insider threats, accidental leaks, or malicious cyber activity.
For agencies using Microsoft 365, ISEC7 CLASSIFY integrates seamlessly into Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, providing familiar user experience while ensuring consistent classification, enforcement, and compliance. It extends to mobile devices via the ISEC7 MAIL app for iOS and Android, allowing employees to properly mark and control CUI regardless of the platform they’re working on.
Beyond user-driven classification, ISEC7 CLASSIFY also integrates with ISEC7 SPHERE, offering centralized compliance monitoring, service availability tracking, and detailed classification statistics.
This provides organizations with full auditing capabilities, ensuring they can monitor where CUI is being transmitted and adjust security measures accordingly.
Ultimately, while Microsoft Purview lays the foundation for CUI classification, ISEC7 CLASSIFY ensures that classification remains persistent, actionable, and enforceable. By using both together, agencies and contractors gain a comprehensive, automated, and policy-driven approach to protecting CUI—one that meets federal requirements and reduces the risk of security breaches.
Conclusion
CUI is a critical component of government data security. Agencies and contractors must implement strict handling procedures, comply with federal regulations, and prevent unauthorized access.
ISEC7 CLASSIFY simplifies CUI management by offering automated classification, secure access controls, policy enforcement, and compliance reporting. By leveraging such solutions, organizations can mitigate security risks, maintain regulatory compliance, and protect national interests.
With regulations increasing, it is important that organizations prioritize protecting and marking their classified and CUI data. ISEC7 CLASSIFY is an essential tool for any organization with data protection requirements, providing a user-friendly experience to ensure that all Emails, Calendar entries, and Office documents containing sensitive information are properly marked and compliant with laws and regulations. Feel free to contact us about ISEC7 CLASSIFY and protecting CUI, and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have and provide a demo.