What are the best practices for data retention policies in cybersecurity?

Data backup frequency and retention are crucial aspects of cybersecurity that can affect the recovery and resilience of an organization in the event of a cyberattack, a natural disaster, or a human error. In this article, we will explore what are the best practices for data retention policies in cybersecurity, and how to balance the trade-offs between cost, performance, and compliance.

1 What is data retention?

Data retention is the process of keeping data for a certain period of time, depending on its purpose, value, and regulatory requirements. Data retention policies are the rules and guidelines that define how long data should be stored, where it should be stored, and how it should be disposed of when it is no longer needed. Data retention policies can help organizations manage their data lifecycle, optimize their storage resources, and comply with legal and ethical obligations.

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2 Why is data retention important for cybersecurity?

Data retention is important for cybersecurity because it can help organizations recover from data loss or corruption caused by cyberattacks, natural disasters, or human errors. Data retention can also help organizations preserve evidence and audit trails for forensic investigations, legal disputes, or compliance audits. Data retention can also help organizations protect their data from unauthorized access, modification, or deletion by implementing encryption, access control, and backup strategies.

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😷 Adam Shostack

Leading expert in threat modeling + secure by design. Training • Consulting • Expert Witness. "Threat Modeling" + "Threats: What every Engineer Should Learn from Star Wars." Affiliate Professor, University of Washington.
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This is the sort of reasonable sounding and wrong answer that chatbots give. Data retention is not backup or archiving. You can retain data without having good backups that will help you recover from the threats it lists. Read the last sentence carefully. "Data retention can also help organizations protect their data from... by implementing encryption, access control, and backup strategies. " It doesn't even make sense.

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3 What are the challenges of data retention?

Data retention is not without challenges, as it involves balancing the trade-offs between cost, performance, and compliance. Data retention can increase the cost of storage, maintenance, and security of data, especially if the data is sensitive, large, or complex. Data retention can also affect the performance of data processing, analysis, and retrieval, as it can create data clutter, duplication, and fragmentation. Data retention can also pose compliance risks, as it can expose the data to legal or regulatory obligations that may vary across jurisdictions, industries, or sectors.

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😷 Adam Shostack

Leading expert in threat modeling + secure by design. Training • Consulting • Expert Witness. "Threat Modeling" + "Threats: What every Engineer Should Learn from Star Wars." Affiliate Professor, University of Washington.
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Again, plausible sounding pablum from the AI, this time, crucially incomplete. A key challenge of retention is securing the data you're retaining, which is often highly sensitive, and needs to be protected. Retention doesn't expose the data to any new legal or regulatory obligations. Those exist when you collect the data...

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4 How to determine the optimal data backup frequency?

Data backup frequency is the interval at which data is copied from the primary storage to a secondary storage for recovery purposes. Data backup frequency depends on several factors, such as the criticality, volatility, and availability of the data, the recovery point objective (RPO), and the recovery time objective (RTO). The RPO is the maximum acceptable amount of data loss in the event of a disaster, while the RTO is the maximum acceptable amount of time to restore the data. The optimal data backup frequency should minimize the RPO and the RTO, while maximizing the efficiency and reliability of the backup process.

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5 How to determine the optimal data retention period?

Data retention period is the length of time that data is kept in the secondary storage before it is deleted or archived. Data retention period depends on several factors, such as the purpose, value, and relevance of the data, the legal and regulatory requirements, and the storage capacity and cost. The optimal data retention period should maximize the utility and security of the data, while minimizing the storage overhead and compliance risk.

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Jon Adams

Senior Director, Legal (AI + Data) at LinkedIn | Board Member | Speaker | Outdoors Advocate
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One thing that is particularly helpful in determining the appropriate data retention period is to consider all of the reasons why data needs to be retained in the first place. I.e., you might want to retain data to achieve business objectives, to satisfy legal obligations, and to ensure consistency in data management practices. Sometimes these may seem mutually exclusive--e.g., there is a legal reason to retain data due to fiduciary or other obligations that seems to conflict with business imperatives to reduce data storage costs--but a thoughtfully crafted data retention schedule can lay out, on a per-data category basis, the appropriate timing and purposes for retention.

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6 How to implement a data retention policy?

Implementing a data retention policy requires a systematic and consistent approach. This includes identifying the types and sources of data subject to the policy, classifying the data according to its criticality, volatility, and availability, defining the backup frequency and retention period for each data category, selecting the appropriate storage medium and location for each data category, applying encryption, access control, and backup techniques to protect the data, and monitoring and reviewing the policy regularly. Additionally, it's important to update the policy as needed.

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What are the best practices for data retention policies in cybersecurity?

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1 What is data retention?

2 Why is data retention important for cybersecurity?

3 What are the challenges of data retention?

4 How to determine the optimal data backup frequency?

5 How to determine the optimal data retention period?

6 How to implement a data retention policy?

Cybersecurity

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What are the best practices for data retention policies in cybersecurity?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 What is data retention?

2 Why is data retention important for cybersecurity?

3 What are the challenges of data retention?

4 How to determine the optimal data backup frequency?

5 How to determine the optimal data retention period?

6 How to implement a data retention policy?

Cybersecurity

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