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Shared control area · counts toward 5 standards
Data retention & secure disposal
This control area governs how long data is kept and how it is permanently destroyed when no longer needed. Frameworks require this to minimize the impact of a potential breach (data minimization) and to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory obligations.
Implement it once
- Define a Data Retention Schedule that specifies retention periods for different categories of data based on legal, regulatory, and business requirements.
- Establish a secure disposal policy detailing approved methods for software-based wiping, physical destruction, or third-party shredding.
- Configure automated deletion or archiving rules within primary storage systems to enforce the retention schedule.
- Create a decommissioning process for hardware that ensures all storage media is sanitized before reuse or disposal.
- Implement a periodic review process to identify and purge expired data across all environments.
Evidence it produces
- A formal Data Retention Policy and Schedule document.
- Certificates of Destruction provided by certified third-party disposal vendors.
- System logs or reports confirming the execution of automated deletion tasks.
- An asset disposal log recording the date, method, and outcome of hardware sanitization.
Where it counts
Standardizing data lifecycle management satisfies privacy requirements for data minimization and security requirements for media protection simultaneously. This single implementation provides the necessary artifacts to prove compliance across almost all major security and regulatory frameworks.