Now we’ve made it to the final instalment of our Pillars to Salesforce Security. If you are not caught up, we highly recommend you read through Data Retention and Deletion Policy:
- Recycle bin
- Salesforce backups
- The retention period for sensitive data
- Drafts and Duplicates
- Automatic deletion process
- Salesforce Sandboxes
You may be wondering why it’s so crucial to have a strong data retention policy. A 2021 study from IBM found that 44% of data breaches included PII (Personal Identifiable Information) and the average cost was $180 USD per lost or stolen record. In conclusion, not enforcing a data retention policy not only puts your customers at risk, but is extremely hazardous for your company’s financials if a breach does occur.
Sandboxes
Sandboxes are very cost-effective and mask your data in a variety of ways depending on the sensitivity so that it is not replicated or readable in another environment. Keep in mind, that once your sandbox data is masked it cannot be unmasked. This makes sandboxes poor places to test integrations that vendors and contractors have access to.
Summary
In conclusion, there is a cost to maintaining records in your org for too long. While the retention of data and records can be extremely useful to your company in providing a baseline, it is vital that you know when to part with the data as well – whether it be through masking, deletion, or shredding.
