Secure Data Archiving: Definition & Best Practices

The data ecosystem relies primarily on securing business and customer data from third parties and hackers. Companies must safeguard their critical data to comply with regulatory requirements. According to data compliance regulations, data from an organization must be stored either on its servers or in the cloud for easy and secure retrieval.

What is Secure Data Archiving

Secure Data Archiving is the process of moving historical and inactive data from primary storage for security, long-term retention, compliance, analysis, and improved system performance.

Why Securing Archived Data Matters

Data is the backbone of a business, and here is why you need to archive data securely:

  • Safeguards your valuable information from internal and external security breaches
  • Ensures compliance with Safety and security standards while securely achieving data like emails, documents, and databases to avoid expensive financial penalties.
  • Quick access to data, even in cases of a natural disaster.
  • Addresses claims related to data mismanagement and data theft risks.

Retention and compliance policies of Data Archiving

Certain types of documents must be kept within an organization for a legally mandated number of years. For example, invoices must be retained for seven years in the US (but ten years in Germany) before their deletion is allowed.

Secure Data Archiving has seen a soaring interest in the past decade to protect the rights of individuals through data management by a third party, fiscal transparency, and more.

You will need to follow regulations like HIPAA, CCPA, GDPR, NHS, and Sarbanes-Oxley etc. Each carries different retention periods in various countries to keep the respective records fully compliant.

Secured Data Archiving Best Practices

To secure data archiving, organizations must strengthen their cybersecurity measures.Implement these through strong end-to-end encryption, robust authentication, and regular audits.

Authentication - Set up a unique username and a strong password.

Access rights – Manage access to information by role-based permissions and various access levels to control unauthorized access.

Encryption – Encrypt documents and files with AES 256-bit SSL encryption, which is the current standard used by the US government.

Learn more about Multifaceted Data Security.

Data Redundancy and Malware Protection

Data redundancy is crucial for information security, guaranteeing a reliable backup when the system goes down. Redundancy ensures business continuity without interruption and builds trust.

Present-day document management systems require multiple layers of storage redundancy. Also, considering natural disasters, it is advisable to geographically segregate backups to ensure data protection and hassle-free data handling.

Additionally, as an organization, you need data sovereignty to ensure that data is protected within specific global borders. Above all, keep your data and the platform completely malware-protected to build a strong defence against cyber threats.

How Secure Is Your Data Archiving Strategy?

Let’s take the first step towards smarter and safer data archiving for the next decade. Schedule a demo to see how it fits your business.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How secure is my data when I archive it?

Data archiving is the secure movement of data to inactive systems, which are least accessible, and keeping the data unchanged. 

 

Is Data Archiving expensive?

No, data archiving is the cost-effective way of preserving critical data from potential threats and unauthorized access. 

Data decommissioning and moving data to separate active storage systems helps your organization save money on the primary storage expenses.

 

Why are compliance and regulatory systems important for data archiving?

Data archiving policies are directed by compliance and regulatory requirements that command how data should be preserved and destroyed. Organizations must adhere to region or country-specific regulations like HIPAA or GDPR, which ensure safe data storage, long-term retention, and appropriate disposal

11 Aug 2025

Keywords
Secure Data Archiving
compliance
data security
data archiving
data encryption
data redundancy
malware protection
cyber security

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