SEC Email Retention Requirements

Complying with SEC email retention requirements

For brokers, dealers and other financial firms, managing compliance with SEC email retention requirements can be a significant challenge. The amount of email produced each year continues to grow exponentially, and SEC email retention requirements compound the problem by mandating that a copy of every message be securely kept in a separate location, for a period of time up to six years. SEC email retention requirements also state that data must be kept in a non-rewritable, non-erasable format, and must be auditable by the SEC at any time.

Retaining, protecting and managing an email archive that conforms with SEC email retention requirements can add a large administrative burden to IT teams that are already facing constrained budgets and resources. Fortunately, Mimecast provides an affordable and easy-to-use solution for managing SEC and FINRA email retention.

Managing SEC email retention requirements with Mimecast

Mimecast offers an all-in-one solution for email security, archiving and continuity that can help to simplify the tasks involved in SEC email retention requirements. Delivered as a cloud-based subscription service, Mimecast's solutions enable financial firms to protect email from threats, ensure access to email during outages, and streamline email archiving, compliance and e-discovery.

The Mimecast Cloud Archive is a powerful, centralized repository of email data, files and IM conversations. Using multiple collection points, Mimecast retains all inbound, outbound and internal email, keeping the original email along with detailed metadata and a copy of any email changed by enforcement of company policy. Mimecast keeps three tamper-proof, encrypted copies of each message, storing them in geographically disparate data centers for greater data security and resiliency.

Administrators can set and manage retention policies from a single web-based console, while financial services compliance teams can use powerful tools for e-discovery, legal hold and case management to minimize the burden of responding to inquiries, requests and audits.

Advantages of Mimecast's solutions for meeting SEC email retention requirements

When using Mimecast to satisfy SEC email retention requirements, you can:

• Quickly and easily implement a compliance solution for SEC email retention requirements – as a SaaS-based solution, there is no hardware or software to purchase or install.
• Dramatically lower the time and expense of managing compliance and litigation readiness.
• Rely on state-of-the-art technology for defending email systems and protecting PII against advanced threats like spear-phishing, ransomware and a man in the browser attack.
• Ensure continuous access to live email and email archives – even during planned and unplanned outages.

In addition to SEC email retention requirements, Mimecast provides HIPAA compliant email solutions and services for managing government and legal compliance as well.

Learn more about SEC email retention requirements and Mimecast.