Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)

Prevent Disclosure of CUI in a Transparent Government

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On November 4, 2010, President Obama issued Executive Order 13556 on Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The objective of this order is to make government more open to the American people, while at the same time recognizing that important purposes require the government to protect some information pursuant to and consistent with applicable law, regulations, and Government-wide policies.

On June 9, 2011, NARA issued the CUI Office Notice - Initial Implementation Guidance for Executive Order 13556, which provides guidance to agencies that create or handle unclassified information.

TITUS marking solutions for Microsoft Office can help agencies meet the requirements of the Executive Order. TITUS solutions allow departments and agencies to classify and mark Controlled Unclassified Information in email and documents, making it easier to decide how to handle information, and respond to Freedom of Information requests.

Compliance with the CUI Framework

TITUS Message and Classification for Microsoft Office are configurable and can be used to meet current marking requirements, such as the Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) designations, as well as any new categories and sub-categories that will be created for Controlled Unclassified Information.

Marking and the CUI Executive Order

The CUI Executive Order will standardize practices around the sharing of CUI with a goal of improving the sharing of information within the agencies of the Federal Government. Once the agencies and NARA decide on the acceptable categories and sub categories of CUI, information should be marked accordingly. The TITUS classification solutions can be easily customized to any markings adopted. The example below shows the product customized for the original markings suggested by the Bush administration CUI Memorandum, but the product is easily customizable to any existing or new CUI markings.

TITUS Message Classification and Classification for Microsoft Office are labeling solutions for CUI compliance which includes the following key features:

• Users can be forced to select CUI markings from a drop down list in Microsoft Office and Outlook before they can save, send or print information.
• Headers, footers and watermarks can be automatically applied to documents and email in order to reinforce the sensitive nature of CUI information.
• Properly formatted CUI portion markings can be applied via an easy to use graphical interface. As a result users no longer have to manually add portion markings, which were often in the wrong format.
• For email, markings can be inserted before and/or after the subject line and message body.

In addition, classification metadata is automatically added to documents and email. This metadata can be used in conjunction with email gateway products or encryption technology to further reduce the risk of inadvertent disclosure - one of the key objectives of the CUI Executive Order.

TITUS solutions make the migration from SBU to CUI designations easy. TITUS solutions fully support the existing SBU designations. Organizations deploying TITUS solutions will have a platform that allows them to correctly classify information today with the capability to grow into the new CUI classification scheme in the future.

Read our blog: Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) – Is Your Agency Ready for CUI Compliance?

CUI Framework Software Solutions:

• Message Classification: Classifies, labels, and protectively marks email in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Web Access, and mobile devices.
• Classification for Microsoft Office: Classifies, labels, and protectively marks documents in Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.