DISCUSSION [NIST SP 800-171 R2]

The term security marking refers to the application or use of human-readable security attributes. System media includes digital and non-digital media. Marking of system media reflects applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, and regulations.

FURTHER DISCUSSION

All media, hardcopy and digital, must be properly marked to alert individuals to the presence of CUI stored on the media. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has published guidelines for labeling media of different sizes.48

MP.L2-3.8.8 requires that media have an identifiable owner, so organizations may find it desirable to include ownership information on the device label as well.

Example

You were recently contacted by the project team for a new DoD program. The team said they wanted the CUI in use for the program to be properly protected. When speaking with them, you realize that most of the protections will be provided as part of existing enterprise cybersecurity capabilities. They also mentioned that the project team will use several USB drives to share specific data. You explain that the team must ensure the USB drives are externally marked to indicate the presence of CUI [a]. The project team labels the outside of each USB drive with an appropriate CUI label following NARA guidance [a]. Further, the labels indicate that distribution is limited to those employees supporting the DoD program [a].

Potential Considerations

Are all media containing CUI identified [a,b]?

Copyright

Copyright 2020, 2021 Carnegie Mellon University and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC.

Copyright 2021 Futures, Inc.

This material is based upon work funded and supported by the Department of Defense under Contract No. FA8702-15-D-0002 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center, and under Contract No. HQ0034-13-D-0003 and Contract No. N00024-13-D-6400 with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC, a University Affiliated Research Center.

The view, opinions, and/or findings contained in this material are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Government position, policy, or decision, unless designated by other documentation.

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