Business uses email for the vast majority of its communications, it’s quicker, more convenient and more productive than any other form of communication across geographical distance that we have. Because of this, there is a whole range of legislation that compels business to conduct this communication safely and securely. With than in mind, having a complete and compliant email archiving solution is essential to prevent data loss and litigation being brought against the company.
Archiving email used to be restricted to forward thinking companies that had an eye on disaster recovery. With the advent of this legislation and events like 9/11, every company who operated in the United States has to treat email very seriously indeed. Having a coherent email archive is the first step towards making a business secure and to prepare it for any eventuality. Email is so prevalent, that many organizations could cease to trade if their email system went down. Having an email archiving system that is available 24/7 and during disaster situations is worth the considerable trouble and expense involved in putting one together.
Couple that need with the need to comply with legislation such as the SEC, FINRA, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, NYSE and NASD rules and you have a compelling case to have an email archiving solution in place before you open your doors for business. All these organizations have reams of regulations regarding the use and storage of electronic company information. The regulations are complex and cover just about everything from how they are written, read, managed, sent, received and stored.
Most rules pertain to security of the information. Using secure systems, having adequate building security, ensuring staff cannot abuse their position. Having a secure email archiving infrastructure in place and other such considerations. Many of the entities mentioned have rules about retaining emails for specific periods of time. For example the SEC and FINRA requires email to be stored for up to 6 years. They must be stored in their original form, be secure, tamperproof, non-erasable or rewritable and must also have copies stored at a geographically diverse location. SOX, or Sarbanes-Oxley dictates that relevant emails must be stored securely to 5 years, especially financial information.
All these laws have a similar look and feel, but cover different industries and types of information. One thread flows through all of them though, they are more concerned about how email and information is handled rather than the contents of them. It’s how this information is created, transmitted, read and then stored that companies have to bear in mind. Email archiving is just a small piece of this giant jigsaw, but the one piece that gets the most publicity.
Archiving email is a practice that many organizations did anyway, but on a much smaller scale. They are now compelled to use email archives to comply with the law, as well as protect themselves from disasters. Having a complete and coherent email archive is the best way a company can protect itself from abuse and litigation as email if often used in evidence. So it isn’t all about protecting yourself from the lawmakers, it’s about protecting yourself from everyone.
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