Archived data has needed to be searchable for a while now; on the simplest side of things, the data in an archive isn’t useful if you cannot identify and retrieve needed information at will. Beyond this, there has long been an expectation you can comply with regulations regarding GDPR, Right to be Forgotten, eDiscovery and more at request. It’s these latter points that should make you ask – how searchable is your archive, really?
We have covered the issues around the Right to be Forgotten and eDiscovery on this blog before. In effect, what it means for an enterprise is that at any point they can be given a legally binding requirement to retrieve, present and potentially delete any data containing information pertinent to a given subject or person.
In addition to this, there are other considerations including that an eDiscovery case will generally require the data to be verifiably untouched or at least not tampered with – meaning the archive needs to be structured such that an audit can confirm the immutability of the information being presented.
What’s changed?
Data subject access requests (DSAR), formal requests made by an individual to an organization asking to see the personal data that the organization holds about them, are also on the rise. The Small Business article ascribes that spike to AI tools, which allow DSAR to be drafted and sent far more easily than previously. This lowering barrier to entry has allowed more requests to be filed, both burdening smaller enterprises and placing more importance on having an archive capable of easing this process.
What does this look like? Any archive you set up needs to be able to do a context-sensitive full-text search to make it easy to identify stored data relevant to a given subject including simply by keywords contained there. Ideally as many eDiscovery adjacent features need to be automated, reducing the burden on the organization and offloading much of the task onto the system itself.
We can expect that archives will maintain the requirement for easy data identification going forwards, considering the tightening regulatory environment and increasingly more permissible data access request process. Organizations should prepare accordingly, on the assumption these requests are only going to become more commonplace.
Your Data in Your hands – With TECH-ARROW
by Matúš Koronthály
Image generated by Canva
