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Protecting e-mail and keeping it
secure is more difficult today, as Internet threats increase in number,
speed and complexity. IT organizations have their work cut out for them as
they struggle to keep spam and malicious code from entering their networks,
infecting their systems, and being backed up, stored and archived.
The first step in meeting regulatory compliance requirements for e-mail is
to define it as part of a comprehensive security and compliance policy. The
success of this policy depends on the outcome of an enterprise-wide
vulnerability and risk assessment that helps provide a clear understanding
of the level of security the organization must achieve in order to meet
regulatory requirements.
One of the most important steps in this process is to define appropriate
e-mail retention time frames. To meet some regulatory requirements, e-mails
might need to be stored for a shorter period on more accessible systems and
then be transferred to a longer-term archive. In addition, e-mail retention
policies should be revisited and updated to ensure they meet current
business requirements.
At the end of the retention period, disk-based storage systems can automate
the deletion of e-mails so they are no longer a liability for the enterprise
and its shareholders, thus eliminating the risk associated with maintaining
information past its required retention date.
In addition, the integration of several tools offers organizations a way to
address compliance issues in a streamlined environment.
Layered security solutions provide protection for e-mail, ensuring that if
one component fails, another component continues to monitor and protect the
network. Data permanence, coupled with policy management, is also a
requirement to ensure that e-mail messages are not altered or deleted prior
to a retention date expiring.
High-capacity ATA disk technology has made disk a viable, cost-effective
alternative to tape. At the same time, fast “discovery” of data is often a
requirement to meet specific regulatory requirements and magnetic disk
offers an effective way to retrieve this information in a timely manner.
Storage technologies, such as WORM on magnetic disk, enable the “locking
down” of data, enabling corporations to prove it has not been tampered with
or deleted, but with the responsiveness and reliability of magnetic disk and
its associated RAID protection. Technologies such as double-parity RAID
protection offer high levels of resilience against dual-disk failures,
allowing companies to use cost-effective ATA disk-based storage solutions to
archive and protect their regulated data.
Open, standards-based systems management tools provide a comprehensive view
of the environment, enabling proactive defense and real-time enterprise-wide
response. Enterprise administration solutions make managing assets easier
and recovery from disasters quicker. Backup and disaster-recovery solutions
commonly available with disk-based archival products enable enterprises to
recover quickly from unexpected disruptions.
For more information from Symantec:
www.rsleads.com/510cn-259
This article was provided by Frank Mong, director of
product marketing at Symantec Corp., Cupertino, Calif., and Zev Rubenstein,
business development manager at Network Appliance, Sunnyvale, Calif.
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