Therefore, monitoring and storing this mountain of content can easily seem like an overwhelming project to begin and maintain for corporations and banks alike. While it is has long been accepted that an employee’s corporate e-mail account is not protected under personal property laws, I do not believe that employees ever thought that their everyday banter would ever be neatly filed pending the possibility of future reference. Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) regulations may cause security auditors and data management professionals to move even the ever popular one-line emails to the filing cabinet.
This is because although emails are informal in nature, electronic documents are as legally binding as hard copy communications. Already, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires all private brokerage houses and banks to save hard copy, email, and instant messenger communications in regard to any stock trade or investment which occurred within the past 3 years. This SEC retention of records statute (section 17a-4) has been continuously adjusted, added too, and enforced since 1939. These regulations were originally established to help assure that brokers did not raise their commission rates or become involved in investment fraud.
This need was stemmed by notable court cases such as Morgan Stanley V. Ronald Perelman (Revlon), a case which has already pushed Morgan Stanley ahead of the curve in saving all of their communications, and cost them somewhere in the ballpark of 1.45 billion dollars. Morgan Stanley is now leading the way in these practices in hope of avoiding further litigation and fines for not having proper email retention policies in place. Many entities are looking for the most cost effective services possible when beginning this process and this search has pointed towards hierarchical storage management services.
http://bankinfosecurity.com/node/2570