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Understanding Compliance

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This article refers to the Barracuda Message Archiver firmware version 5.0 or higher.

The Barracuda Message Archiver provides everything an organization needs to comply with government regulations in an easy to install and administer plug-and-play hardware solution. The Barracuda Message Archiver stores and indexes all email for easy search and retrieval by both regular users and third-party auditors. Backed by Energize Updates, delivered by Barracuda Central, the Barracuda Message Archiver receives automatic updates to its extensive library of virus and policy definitions to enable enhanced monitoring of compliance and corporate guidelines as well as document file format updates needed to decode content within email attachments.

The Barracuda Message Archiver features an easy-to-use web user interface, creating an intuitive and cost-effective administration tool for the integrated hardware and software solution. The web user interface allows administrators to define, manage, and control corporate archiving settings and rules from a central location.

The Barracuda Message Archiver provides litigation support, storage management, knowledge management, and compliance.

Litigation Support

Litigation discovery involves all parties in a lawsuit and requires that all data or information relevant to the lawsuit be provided as requested by the court of law. The Barracuda Message Archiver stores and indexes all email for easy search and retrieval by both regular users and third-party auditors.

Storage Management

Not only does the volume of email messages continue to increase, the size of the average email itself is also on the rise. Due to the increased use of file attachments in email messages, the average email size can range between 22KB and 350KB. As such, the ability for an organization to adequately keep up with the storage demands of email can be costly. While storage solutions can be used to deal with the problem of email message growth in the short term, the Barracuda Message Archiver provides a more resourceful way of handling the issue over a longer period of time.

Knowledge Management

A company’s email system contains a vast amount of vital corporate intelligence, some of which is not replicated in any other data or material. If email is lost or is not easily accessible, a company runs the risk of losing that intelligence. The Barracuda Message Archiver provides management tools essential to storing and controlling access to an organization's knowledge base.

Compliance

Compliance issues are perhaps the driving force behind the increase in demand for an email archiving solution. The sheer number of regulations requiring some form of email retention, as well as the more specific parameters of how the email should be stored and for how long, can be confusing for administrators.

Although many regulations exist and have varying requirements, compliance is based on three concepts:

  • Email permanence – Email must be maintained in its original form without alteration or deletion
  • Email security – Information must be protected against all threats including unauthorized access to the email as well as physical damage. This same concept applies to the process of legal discovery which often specifies who can access the email (i.e., legal teams) as well as safeguards against the destruction of hard copies of the data
  • Auditability – Email must be easily accessible in a timely fashion by authorized personnel upon request

The following table summarizes some of the key government regulations, and indicates how the Barracuda Message Archiver, using a sophisticated set of logging, auditing, and management capabilities, can help organizations achieve compliance.

Regulatory Compliance

RegulationDescriptionBarracuda Message Archiver Logging/StorageSearch/Alerts
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)the FRCP sets rules for governing court procedures in managing civil suits in the United States district courts.The Barracuda Message Archiver stores email through a combination of internal and external storage for whatever length of time you define. Define the period for which your email is to be stored via retention policies.Email messages are fully indexed according to popular message fields including subject, sender/receiver, date, attachment, importance, and more. Custom policies can be set to alert when terms related to ongoing litigation are contained in emails and their attachments.
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires companies to implement policies and systems to monitor and prevent fraudulent activities.The Barracuda Message Archiver stores email through a combination of internal and external storage for whatever length of time you define. Define the period for which your email is to be stored via retention policies.Email messages are fully indexed according to popular message fields including subject, sender/receiver, date, attachment, importance and more.
SEC/NASDFirms in the financial services industries must adhere to strict sets of rules imposed by governing bodies.The Barracuda Message Archiver stores email through a combination of internal and external storage for whatever length of time you define. Define the period for which your email is to be stored via retention policies. The Barracuda Message Archiver also includes tamper-resistant safeguards to protect the integrity of the email archive.Email messages are fully indexed according to popular message fields including subject, sender/receiver, date, attachment, importance and more. Reports can also be generated that log attempts to tamper with the archive storage.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)HIPAA mandates all healthcare and insurance providers determine who has access to health information and ensure that such information remains inaccessible to unauthorized parties.The Barracuda Message Archiver stores email through a combination of internal and external storage for whatever length of time you define. Define the period for which your email is to be stored via retention policies. Alerts can be customized to notify the administrator when a policy has been violated. Policy definitions included with Energize Updates will update the Barracuda Message Archiver’s lexicon with the latest advances in health care industry.