> Most EDMS will allow the deletion of any DOCUMENT by any authorised
> user.
> Note that a document need not necessarily be a RECORD. Such deletions
> can
> usually be 'undone' with disk recovery tools.
I think this is specifically what Jesse was speaking to in his
response, and this level of recovery doesn't even involve complex
computer forensic techniques. Document or record doesn't matter,
unless you write the files to separate discrete media types for some
reason, with documents being written to a more volatile source media.
> If you are using an EDRMS which allows for the management of a
> RECORD'S life
> cycle from acquisition through use, retention and final disposition it
> is
> usual that a record may only be deleted under specific circumstances.
> Further, it may be mandated that following deletion a record MUST NOT
> be
> recoverable.
I don't know of too many cases where it's "mandated" that a record not
be recoverable (aside from some of those involving the legal and
justice system related to crimes by minors). But, I can think of many
situations involving business practices where you are ALLOWED to delete
records (after specified time periods) and it's advisable to follow
those to limit the organization's exposure to discovery in the event of
a legal proceeding.
> In some systems (such as our own!) it is possible to set the 'level' of
> deletion. At the lowest level a deletion is simply a deletion of the
> information using the standard operating system techniques.
> The higher levels of deletion specify that the document (or usually the
> RECORD) be overwritten by a specific bit pattern from 1 to 'n' times
> which
> makes recovery impossible even using disk recovery tools.
This is interesting to me, in that if it's written to WORM media, which
most optical platters are, how you would be able to "overwrite" the
data in any manner. I can see if it's written to a RAID or other form
or re-writeable media that this would be possible, but the requirements
of most systems and organizations to meet legal obligations is that
records are written to WORM media, thereby disallowing any manipulation
and/or expungement without taking extreme measures.
> I'd be pleased to talk to you 'off-list'.
I'd appreciate hearing the response and description of the technique
on-list, if you wouldn't mind.
Larry Medina
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