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Read more about fully-managed tape restoration and data discovery solution that helps government agency selectively analyse and de-risk archived backups.
Over nine months, Iron Mountain Advisory Services worked closely with partner organisations and the agency to complete the whole project end-to-end. Initially conducting stakeholder interviews and workshops, then securely restoring backup tapes, undertaking data discoveries and putting new governance processes in place. Combining the very best in Iron Mountain and partner capabilities, a fully managed service was developed, tested, and deployed.
The project included approximately 50 backup tapes, a subset of the agency's total archive, laden with potentially sensitive information. Once restored, the data could then be discovered, which proved invaluable in identifying:
Drawing on those insights Iron Mountain developed a robust, repeatable process for the classification and indexing of the data being retained, based on the agency's record taxonomy as well as for information that may be subject to the Public Records Act requirements.
After completing the detailed analysis and classification, the data could be categorised into one of three categories: Business Value (to be retained by the agency); Historic Value (to be transferred to The National Archives); or No Value (redundant, obsolete, trivial, over retention period, or corrupted, and to be securely destroyed).
A review of existing record management policy and retention schedules was also completed to ensure they included full proof controls and processes for managing the newly restored data were aligned to best practice. Iron Mountain also supported a risk assessment and the creation of a business case for future investment and improvements in information governance.
Suited to other government departments and organisations with a lot of 'dark data' and similar large, complex data challenges, the Iron Mountain managed service improved data usability and adherence with ever-toughening privacy and security laws.
Once incisively supplied with the insight it lacked, the agency was able to make informed decisions before isolating and defensibly destroying or retaining valuable tape content at scale. Importantly, that information is now accessible, compliant, and aligned with record retention schedules, significantly reducing the risk of personal data breaches and possible financial penalties.
In addition, with the creation of a new and accurate index, the agency can quickly retrieve data as and when required to assist with e-Discovery requests or legal proceedings, without having to manually hunt through large volumes of archived backup tapes.
Today’s environment is ever-changing and is causing significant disruption to federal, state, and local government agencies and educational institutions. Already faced with growing volumes of data in a variety of formats – both physical and digital – public sector organisations now have to make sure they can access that information at any time, from anywhere, all while ensuring security and privacy.
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