Method and system for data retention
First Claim
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1. A method of data retention executed by a computer archive system, comprising:
- committing, by the computer archive system, to a plurality of documents by building a hash-based directed acyclic graph (HDAG) using information from the plurality of documents;
publishing a hash of a root node of the HDAG;
deleting, by the computer archive system, a particular one of the plurality of documents;
providing, by the computer archive system, a proof of authorized deletion of the particular document in response to an audit request, wherein the proof of authorized deletion includes a deletion request received by the computer archive system, the deletion request specifying deletion of the particular document;
maintaining a list of current and past deletion policies for authorization of deletion requests, the list of current and past deletion policies facilitating a determination of which policy is in effect at a given time; and
verifying that the deletion request is authorized, wherein verifying that the deletion request is authorized includes verifying that the deletion request complies with a designated deletion policy in effect at the time of the deletion request as designated by the list of current and past deletion policies.
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method of document retention with policy-controlled deletion. Embodiments of the present invention comprise committing to a plurality of documents, deleting one of the plurality of documents, and providing a proof of authorized deletion of the one of the plurality of documents in response to an audit request.
21 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method of data retention executed by a computer archive system, comprising:
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committing, by the computer archive system, to a plurality of documents by building a hash-based directed acyclic graph (HDAG) using information from the plurality of documents; publishing a hash of a root node of the HDAG; deleting, by the computer archive system, a particular one of the plurality of documents; providing, by the computer archive system, a proof of authorized deletion of the particular document in response to an audit request, wherein the proof of authorized deletion includes a deletion request received by the computer archive system, the deletion request specifying deletion of the particular document; maintaining a list of current and past deletion policies for authorization of deletion requests, the list of current and past deletion policies facilitating a determination of which policy is in effect at a given time; and verifying that the deletion request is authorized, wherein verifying that the deletion request is authorized includes verifying that the deletion request complies with a designated deletion policy in effect at the time of the deletion request as designated by the list of current and past deletion policies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of data retention executed by a computer archive system, comprising:
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committing, by the computer archive system, to a plurality of documents by building a hash-based directed acyclic graph (HDAG) using information from the plurality of documents; publishing a hash of a root node of the HDAG; deleting, by the computer archive system, a particular one of the plurality of documents; providing, by the computer archive system, a proof of authorized deletion of the particular document in response to an audit request, wherein the proof of authorized deletion includes a deletion request received by the computer archive system, the deletion request specifying deletion of the particular document; and providing the HDAG with a hash pointer to a first deletion policy, wherein the first deletion policy is replaced by a second deletion policy having a time stamp later than the first deletion policy upon receiving authorization. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of data retention executed by a computer archive system, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the computer archive system, a document from a client; assigning, by the computer archive system, the document an identification; creating, by the computer archive system, a hash-based directed acyclic graph (HDAG) based on information relating to the document and the identification; sending to the client a hash of a root node of the HDAG; and generating a proof of deletion of the document, wherein the proof includes a deletion request received by the computer archive system, the deletion request specifying deletion of the document, wherein the HDAG includes a hash-pointer that points to a first deletion policy, wherein the first deletion policy can be replaced by a second deletion policy having a time stamp later than the first deletion policy upon receiving authorization. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A method of assured document retention with controlled deletion, comprising:
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committing to a plurality of documents, wherein committing to the plurality of documents comprises building and publishing a hash-based directed acyclic graph using information from the plurality of documents, the hash-based directed acyclic graph having a hash pointer to a first deletion policy, wherein the first deletion policy can be replaced by a second deletion policy having a time stamp later than the first deletion policy and having proper authorization; deleting one of the plurality of documents; storing a deletion request for use as part of a proof of authorized deletion; maintaining a list of current and past deletion policies for authorization of deletion requests; verifying that the deletion request is authorized, wherein verifying that the deletion request is authorized includes verifying that the deletion request complies with a deletion policy in the list of current and past deletion policies; receiving an audit request for retrieval of the one of the plurality of documents after the one of the plurality of documents has been deleted; providing the proof of authorized deletion of the one of the plurality of documents in response to the audit request; receiving a request to switch to a new deletion policy; verifying that the request to switch is authorized, wherein verifying that the request to switch is authorized includes retrieving information from a stored copy of the designated deletion policy in effect at the time of the request to switch as designated by the list of current and past deletion policies; and adding the new deletion policy to the list of current and past deletion policies so that the new deletion policy is in effect.
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Specification