Deletion concepts and evidence in the email archive

After the retention period expires, messages are deleted lawfully. Every step can be justified and proven through the audit log.

Lawful deletion after the period expires

Messages whose period has expired are deleted automatically and with logging, at each turn of the year after expiry. The deletion follows the requirements of the GDPR. Every deletion run concludes with a proof of integrity. The periods per class are shown in retention and WORM.

Adjusting deletion concepts

Retention classes and deletion rules can be defined in the archive area under retention and deletion concept, per department, group or mailbox. Periods are only extended, never shortened, so that an ongoing obligation is never undercut.

Groups and organisation

Groups are maintained in the administration area under organisation. A group is created manually by selecting individual mailboxes, by department from the directory or by verified domain. These groups are the shared basis for retention rules, access permissions and legal holds. The same composition thereby applies in retention and WORM and search and access.

Legal hold as the exception

A legal hold protects messages for litigation or an audit from deletion, even after the period has expired. It is set with a reason and later lifted with a reason, and lifting is subject to the four-eyes principle. eDiscovery cases bundle related holds under one case number. How releases work is shown in search and access.

Evidence through the audit log

All access and changes land in a tamper-proof audit log that covers the requirements of a record of processing activities under GDPR Art. 30. The entries are chained through a hash chain whose head is sealed externally. An export is available for audits, among others as an NDJSON stream for a SIEM. Every deletion and every release thereby stays provable. The basics of GoBD are shown in GoBD-compliant email archiving.

A complete log of all access.

An orderly exit

At the end of the contract the holding stays intact until it has been retrieved. Handover happens through releases in EML or MBOX format, under the same four-eyes principle. Decommissioning deletes nothing by itself, and retention periods continue unchanged. A product overview is available on the Archive product page.