THE SAFE HARBOR EXPRESS® SERVICE | DATA ASSET CONTROL

YOUR DATA ASSET CONTROL SYSTEM

Back Thru The Future’s Safe Harbor Express® (or ‘SHE’) is an annually Contracted Service Providing a turnkey solution for the regulatory (HIPAA, GLBA, and other data privacy laws) required destruction of personally sensitive information recorded on hard drives and other data media. ‘SHE’ represents your required “Data Asset Control System” for the entire information disposal process.

A data asset control system must be able to locate all stored sensitive data and be able to prove that the sensitive data is secure. An auditable chain of possession must be developed from the inception of control of the data asset to the final destruction of all recorded sensitive data. The destruction of the data must comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) “Guidelines for Media Sanitization”. You must maintain records of employee training and documentation of an annual review of risk assessment. You must perform and document “vendor due diligence” when utilizing a third party service provider.

LITIGATION ELECTRONIC DATA DISCOVERY PROTECTION

SHE also provides valuable litigation protection. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, governing litigation-based electronic data discovery procedures, requires you to maintain auditable proof of following a formal records retention policy that provides for automatic destruction of obsolete business records.  This is essential to qualify for the “Safe Harbor Data Destruction” exemption from the risk of court sanctions for failing to implement a “litigation hold”. Our SHE service derives its name from this exemption.

RIGOROUS DATA DESTRUCTION STANDARDS

SHE is in full compliance with the American Records Management Association (ARMA) guidelines for the destruction of electronic records. Back Thru The Future was a member of the ARMA committee that established these guidelines.

Back Thru The Future® is NAID AAA certified for the secure data destruction of hard drives for both plant based and mobile operations. This is a valuable tool for documenting vendor due diligence.

Back Thru The Future® is a Federal EPA and NJ DEP licensed Universal Waste (a form of hazardous waste) Destination Facility for the recycling of consumer electronics. Hard drives, SSD and PDAs/Cell phones are identified as electronic devices. The SHE agreement includes our authorized environmental compliance certification for the regulatory required recycling of  electronic devices.

Inadvertent destruction of electronic information subject to an electronic data discovery litigation hold event can be very embarrassing and expensive.

Auditability or the ability to prove that you destroyed data in the normal course of your management of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) is a core principle of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s Rule 37(f), the “Safe Harbor” rule. This rule states:

Absent exceptional circumstances, a court may not impose sanctions on a party for failing to provide electronically stored information (ESI) lost as a result of the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic-information system.

REGULATORY COMPLIANT:
Data sanitization via NIST protocol, NAID AAA certified secure, EPA licensed electronic recycling

LEGAL “SAFE HARBOR” DATA DESTRUCTION:
FRCP compliant for the exclusion from Electronic Data Discovery litigation hold requirements

EASY ON YOUR BUDGET:
One annual bill, zero surprises

SIMPLE TO MANAGE:
We are responsible for maintaining your schedule

SECURE:
All NIST compliant data destruction occurs within your physical security perimeter

DETAILED AUDITABILITY:
Secure chain of possession documentation

AUDIT SUPPORT:
All project documentation is easily accessed through our web-based archive, The Compliance Library™

PROVIDE REGULATORY REQUIRED EMPLOYEE TRAINING:
Web-based training tool

PROVIDE REGULATORY REQUIRED ANNUAL RISK ASSESSMENT:
Annual renewal contract review

VENDOR CONFIDENCE:
Extensive client reference list

CONVENIENT, LOW-COST COMPUTER RECYCLING:
While at your location, we will pick up your obsolete/defective equipment

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY:
Most effective hard drive materials sorting system in the industry

MANAGEMENT STATISTICS:
Annual YTD volume totals (per individual location) are available online

“Managing legacy data is the most important thing an organization can do to reduce risk and cost associated with electronic data.”

Source: Anne Kershaw, A. Kershaw PC / Attorneys & Consultants

The Retained Data Media Problem

Failure to promptly destroy obsolete data media can lead to major legal “dormant liability” which is the unknown, potential legal liability associated to data caught in an electronic data discovery litigation hold event. Back Thru The Future’s Safe Harbor Express® scheduled data destruction service will dramatically reduce this legal risk.