CompTIA A+ Core 2 (220-1202)Operational ProceduresHard
A company receives a legal hold notice requiring preservation of all emails related to a pending lawsuit. The company's standard email retention policy automatically purges messages older than 90 days. Which of the following should the technician do FIRST?
- ASuspend the automatic deletion policy for the data subject to the legal hold
- BForward the relevant emails to a personal external account for safekeeping
- CManually delete emails older than 90 days to reduce storage costs
- DAllow the retention policy to continue running as scheduled
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Suspend the automatic deletion policy for the data subject to the legal hold
A legal hold requires suspending routine data destruction processes for any information relevant to the litigation to avoid spoliation of evidence; the automatic purge policy must be paused for the affected data. Continuing or accelerating deletion violates the hold, and moving data to a personal account creates additional privacy and chain-of-custody risks.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Moving data to a personal account creates privacy and custody violations.
- C. Manually deleting data violates the legal hold and may constitute spoliation.
- D. Allowing the policy to continue would destroy evidence subject to the hold.
Legal Hold
A directive requiring an organization to preserve specific data and suspend normal deletion/retention policies due to pending or anticipated litigation.
- Failure to comply can result in spoliation sanctions
- Overrides standard retention/deletion schedules for relevant data
- Distinct from routine data retention policy enforcement
Memory trick: Lawsuit looming? Lock the deletion down.