June 2023

Ephemeral Messaging & Retention

Does your company have a retention plan for ephemeral data? If not, there's no time like the present. Ephemeral data is data that exists for a short amount of time before it is deleted and (potentially) no longer recoverable. These types of records are currently in the spotlight after failure to preserve some ephemeral messages have led to an array of Wall Street firms being hit with a collective 1.8 billion dollar fine.

Our resource this month details 4 things to consider when dealing with ephemeral data, or even with short form messaging apps like Teams or Slack that have become ubiquitous. For more in-depth guidance and explanation on electronic messages as records, check out NARA's 2015-02 Bulletin. 

If you missed the links within the text above, here are the full versions:

Bloomberg Law: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bloomberg-law-analysis/analysis-what-to-do-when-discovery-messaging-apps-collide

NARA 2015-02 Bulletin: https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/bulletins/2015/2015-02.html

Thanks to Melissa Walker, Board Member at Large, for this monthly installment!