users too. Think about it for a moment… How many times has
someone sent you a file that you just can't seem to locate
when you need it most? Did they email the file to you? Did
they share it through SharePoint? Having access to a backup
search interface can make it easy for users to track down
otherwise illusive files.
Legal Hold
As previously noted, the next thing that typically happens is
that an administrator will place the discovered documents on
legal hold. Backup applications do not typically have a legal
hold feature, but you can establish a retention policy for your
backups. If backup data needs to be put on legal hold, you
could conceivably apply an indefinite retention policy to that
data. Depending upon your backup architecture, another
option might be to export the requested data to tape, so that
you have a tangible copy of the data that isn't going to expire.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a legal hold does more
than just keep data from being deleted. It also prevents data
from being modified. Copying backup data to a tape for
safekeeping fulfills this requirement.
Data Immutability
Many modern backup solutions also support data immutability
within the backup. Data immutability has become increasingly
important as a ransomware defense mechanism. Some
ransomware is specifically designed to target an organization's
backups. The idea is that if the ransomware is able to encrypt
the backups then the organization will have no choice but to
pay the ransom. Consequently, backup vendors are
increasingly supporting data immutability as a way of
preventing backup data from being modified by ransomware.
The same immutability can also serve to protect data if a legal
hold is issued.
