Glossary Terms
What is Google Vault?
Google Vault is a tool that helps companies keep, manage, and discover data from Google Workspace. It works with emails and chats, as well as files stored under various Google services, including Gmail and Drive. Vault is not an ordinary backup tool. Instead, it helps with legal matters, audits, and data management policies. In such instances, Google Vault functions as a secure digital storage space for your business emails, files, and chats. In cases where an organization specifies data retention periods, Vault can easily accommodate such retention.
How is Google Vault different from backup?
Many individuals mistakenly believe Google Vault is a backup utility. Both backup and Google Workspace Vault are used for different purposes.
Backups primarily involve creating copies of your data. In case something happens to the original, you can restore it. Google Drive backup and sync tools are designed for this purpose. Vault, however, is more about protecting your data from accidental or purposeful deletion.
For example, if someone deletes an email, a Google Workspace backup and recovery tool can recover it. However, Vault only retains that email if your company’s rules dictate that it should be saved. It doesn’t create extra copies; it simply ensures the original stays intact. Therefore, if you want to ensure that data is always available and can be quickly restored, a backup tool is what you need. However, if you need to keep data secure for legal reasons and ensure you can access it when necessary, Vault is the right choice.
Key features of Google Vault
Let’s break down the main things Google Vault can do:
1. Data retention policies
With Google Workspace Vault, you can easily establish specific policies on data retention. The policies will be applied to emails, Google Chat messages, and Google Drive Vault files. You can apply the policies to everyone or to specific groups.
For instance,
- Keep all Gmail emails for a minimum of 5 years.
- Delete chats after 90 days unless they are marked as important.
Vault automatically enforces these rules. Vault will retain a file or email unless someone tries to circumvent a policy by deleting it. This makes it a valuable tool alongside your Google Workspace backup and recovery strategy.
2. Legal holds
In case of any legal issue or investigation, Google Vault can be used by a company to apply legal holds on data. It ensures that data is not deleted, even if it is supposed to be as per the rules of retention.
Hold may be applied on an account or keyword basis. For instance:
- Hold all emails from John for investigation.
- Store chats with the keyword “contract.”
This function is useful when a business is subjected to litigation or audit and needs to ensure that crucial information is provided for inspection.
3. Search tools
Vault includes powerful search capabilities that allow for easy location of emails, chats, and files. The search tool is straightforward and enables legal and compliance teams to quickly find what they need. You’re able to search by:
- Date ranges
- Exact words or phrases
- Sender and recipient
- File types, and more
These features make Google Vault an essential part of Google Workspace backup and recovery.
4. Export options
You can export the data after locating. This is convenient when you want to share data with lawyers, regulators, or investigators. Vault wraps up the export in a nice package, including metadata (who sent it and when, etc.). This keeps records complete and clean.
5. Audit trails
Google Vault keeps track of everything that happens within it. That includes:
- Who searched for what
- What was exported
- Any changes made to retention rules
This helps keep your company accountable. If there’s ever a question about how data was handled, the logs can show the full story.
Why use Google Vault?
Google Vault supports many businesses according to their needs. The common use cases are:
1. Compliance with laws and policies
Some industries, such as finance, healthcare, and legal, require records for many years. Google Workspace Vault aids in meeting these requirements by correctly storing data. In some cases, industries simply want to enforce internal data policies. You can simply create retention rules and select how long the data of each type is kept.
2. eDiscovery
Your company may also be asked to find some emails or documents in a legal proceeding. This is called eDiscovery. Google Vault made it easy. You can search for and collect data without needing to constantly ask for help from IT. Vault ensures that the data remains untouched—everything important for legal scrutiny.
3. Investigations and audits
At other times, an internal team may carefully investigate an issue, such as a data leak or employee misconduct, and Vault enables them to locate the relevant emails or files quickly and discreetly.
4. Protecting data
Although Vault is not for Google Workspace backup and recovery, it can help prevent some accidental losses. Depending on the retention rules, Vault can hold a file or email that an end user has deleted, even when you’re not using a Google Drive backup and sync tool.
How does Google Vault function?
Google Vault functions by offering a specific data retention process:
- Retain: retaining your data is keeping it for a retention period in case you want to access it in the future.
- Hold: you may want to put a ‘hold’ on your data so that no one can delete it, even if the retention period elapses.
- Search: search through your Google apps for a specific document, message or chat which you may wish to refer to in legal proceedings.
- Export: export your data as a file that your legal team, or any other interested individual, may use.
- Audit: the audit trail displays to you every action that your user performed within Google Workspace which you may need to provide evidence of in legal proceedings.
Because Google Workspace Vault functions in this very standardized manner, it is information governance-compliant and can be utilized to both archive data as well as purge sensitive information once a time limit has passed.
Related Glossaries
CrashPlan provides cyber-ready data resilience and governance in a single platform for organizations whose ideas power their revenue. With its comprehensive backup and recovery capabilities for data stored on servers, on endpoint devices, and in SaaS applications, CrashPlan’s solutions are trusted by entrepreneurs, professionals, and businesses of all sizes worldwide. From ransomware recovery and breaches to migrations and legal holds, CrashPlan’s suite of products ensures the safety and compliance of your data without disruption.
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