States Remain Vulnerable to Catastrophic Email Loss and Non-Compliance
Disaster recovery, governance and business continuity are a top priority for America’s cities and counties in 2015, behind only cybersecurity, open government and IT staffing. That’s according to the latest survey data from the Center for Digital Government – and with good reason. Keeping up with state and local guidelines and regulations for data integrity and the protection and availability of public records is exhausting.
The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for open government, suggests that the problem stems from the fact that state and local email retention policies are developed in-house, poorly articulated, and hampered by inefficiencies. Backup technologies (yes, we’re looking at you tapes) are also woefully lacking.
Case in point – earlier this month it was revealed that nearly two years’ of the Florida Department of Corrections public emails had been lost. Citing a “deficient” email backup system, the emails were destroyed following an attempt to fix a hardware problem by the Southwood Shared Resource Center, a state-owned data center that houses information for state departments and agencies.
The loss is significant because the emails represent an important trail of electronic evidence that publicly document the Department’s actions. In addition, Florida’s Sunshine Law requires that state agencies maintain and make public records accessible to citizens. Emails must also be retained for a period of time depending on the subject of the communication.
A review of the incident by the Department’s inspector general determined that there was no evidence of compliance with the rules that govern the backup of public records. The report concluded that the department lacked “general IT controls, such as restoration procedures, restoration testing, expiration of backup media, and applicability to other policies,” reports Government Technology.
While many agencies have made great strides in managing their data, others still struggle. Building a compliant backup plan isn’t easy and can overwhelm even the most competent IT department, as evidenced by the example above. While a consistent and deployable approach to email governance can lay the groundwork for data protection, things can get a little easier with the help of a long-term backup plan.
Consider DLT’s resources as you plan your 2015 IT investment. The DLT Presales Engineering team and our portfolio of data loss prevention and email archiving solutions can help ensure you make the right investment of public dollars.
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