Electronic Discovery Navigator

Email archiving failures top list of primary email issues

Email archiving failures top list of primary email issues

"An email security vendor recently reported email archiving and eDiscovery failures ranked as the premier problems plaguing enterprise IT departments in a list of the 10 most pressing issues in email security.

Piper Jaffray's failure to archive email over a six-year span received the No. 1 distinction. The investment bank received a $700,000 fine from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for its violation, which also illustrated the effect poor management of electronically stored information can have on eDiscovery practice."

Tips Toward Mastering E-Mail Evidence

Tips Toward Mastering E-Mail Evidence

"We can't manage what we can't find, so it behooves lawyers to know the customary places where e-mail resides. In a Microsoft Exchange/Outlook  environment, the starting point for collection is usually the Exchange Server, a name applied both to the messaging system hardware (the "box" in a client's offices, or virtualized in the cloud), and to the software that runs on that hardware.

An Exchange Server aggregates mail, calendars, contacts, and other data from multiple users (a department or an entire company) into a single massive database. A hold may be applied to all contents of the Exchange Server or just selected user accounts. It's been common to extract the contents of key custodians' mailboxes for search and processing; but Exchange Server 2010 natively supports search of and collection within Exchange."

56 percent of companies cite fear as main reason for refusing to move to digital storage

56 percent of companies cite fear as main reason for refusing to move to digital storage

"Even as email archiving solutions and other digital data storage systems prove to be invaluable assets to the companies using them, some organizations still refuse to fully leverage the technologies. For the most part, fear over data loss is the primary reason for this decision with 56 percent of companies citing it as the cause of their refusal, according to a study recently conducted by an information management company.

Some experts believed financial restrictions were preventing companies from fully moving their data storage operations to computers. Even with 25 percent of respondents reporting a lack of funds has delayed the move, organizations are so concerned with data loss, some refuse to even consider the transition."

Email archiving solutions, policies critical to compliance

Email archiving solutions, policies critical to compliance

"Companies can avoid potential fines and sanctions related to regulations by tailoring their email archiving and other solutions to meet requirements. With increased scrutiny on companies of all kinds coming from the federal government and regulatory authorities, organizations must do everything they can to comply with these mandates, according to Network World."

Court Denied Subpoena Seeking Palin's Emails

US DISTRICT COURT DENIES SUBPOENA OF GOV PALIN’S EMAILS

"On March 17, 2010, the magistrate judge presiding over the criminal case pending against the alleged hacker, David Kernell, issued a detailed and thorough ruling denying Mr. Kernell’s request for broad subpoena requests to rummage through Sarah Palin’s email account. The judge, U.S. District Judge C. Clifford Shirley, Jr. denied David C. Kernell’s motion to subpoena all of Governor Palin’s emails. Instead, the judge looked closely at the governments allegation against David Kernell, and Kernell’s defenses, and determined that the subpoenas the defense lawyer proposed sought, with one exception, completely irrelevant information to any issue pending in the case. Mr. Kernell was indicted for unauthorized access and identity theft allegedly committed on September 16, 2008. (March 17, 2010 Court Order, p. 2)."

Here's the Court's Order.

Hosted Cloud-Based Email Management, Offered by Mimecast

Hosted Cloud-Based Email Management, Offered by Mimecast

"The Mimecast email management specialist delivering SaaS email archiving, continuity, security and control, has made a significant upgrade to its flagship Unified Email Management platform.

With the launch of new functionality to expand the scope of its cloud-based services. The new offering provides the advanced features and capabilities of on-premise email solutions in the flexible, cost-effective SaaS delivery model.

The new functionality helps businesses address increasing industry regulations and concerns around data retention and e-Discovery. The company's archiving, mailbox management and data protection features allow companies to control their inboxes while preventing data leaks.
Nancy Stagg, Principal at Fish and Richardson explained, ''E-discovery and document retention requirements, combined with increasing volume, make email management difficult for legal practitioners and their IT staffs. Law firms and corporate law departments must contend with many related compliance issues, including the storage of email evidence, review of large user personal storage files (PST), documenting email keyword search queries and maintaining and authenticating proper chain of custody."

Five best practices for your email archive

Five best practices for your email archive

"Here are some best practices and strategies to follow when choosing and implementing an email archiving tool:

1. Seek buy-in from the legal/compliance team and business leaders when selecting an email archiving technology and setting retention policies.
Legal counsel/compliance officers know the regulations and requirements applying to the length of time the electronic data must be kept. Business managers know any special policies that need to be taken into account, such as product warranties.

2. Grant few, if any, exceptions to email archiving policies.
Exceptions can open the door for opposing counsel to challenge the validity of the information discovered in connection with a lawsuit."

E-mail Management Lags

E-mail Management Lags

Here's a short slideshow about the lag in email management.

E-mails Still Are Not Treated As Important Business Records

E-mails Still Are Not Treated As Important Business Records

"Enterprises are unable to deal with the torrent of e-mail records bombarding their users because so many of them fail to set policies regarding retention, deletion and classification of e-mails, according to a report released by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).

The report detailed the findings of a recent survey conducted among 1,109 members of AIIM, which showed most organizations fail to consistently handle e-mail management for legal discovery or efficiency purposes."

Compliance: Keeping E-Mail in Check

Compliance: Keeping E-Mail in Check

"According to a survey conducted in 2008 by Emedia Research, 94 percent of C-level executives believed they were powerless to prevent confidential or sensitive information being sent outside of the organization. The same survey also found that 32 percent were unaware if a data leak had taken place.  It is clear that the majority of companies do not have the necessary systems in place to protect data and are at risk of triggering a regulatory violation.

Aside from the sensitive documents that are routinely exchanged, e-mail is increasingly the only form of written communication that exists between a company, its clients and suppliers. Most people prefer e-mail over telephone conversations because it allows for easy and efficient communication with multiple parties, with the added benefit of a paper trail that can be tracked and referenced as needed. This situation can leave organizations in a more precarious situation than initially believed, especially for those in highly regulated industries, including financial services, utilities/energy, healthcare and education."