Text Message Archiving For Government

Benefits Of Working With A Fedramp

First of all, a FedRAMP authorized CSP helps businesses maintain compliance while securing sensitive data. The prescribed security controls are robust enough to include mobile compliance as a key measure. This also helps businesses to perform mobile call monitoring and mobile archiving to secure sensitive data.

Pro Tip #3 Archive It

The easiest and fastest way to process requests for text message records is finding a way to archive text records. Using a comprehensive archiving solution to store your text messages means the inevitable retrieval process is simple. No more wrangling. No more hours wasted on the search.

Integrating an archiving solution with your FOIA software alleviates the burden of tracking down text messages, while also creating a seamless workflow. Smarsh is the leading entity in text message archiving, and NextRequestâs partnership with Smarsh enables you to respond to records requests faster than ever, without involving IT, or spending hours hunting down texts.

When you use Smarsh with NextRequest, your texts are automatically captured and catalogued by Smarsh. When a records request calls for it, a simple search will surface relevant text records, which you can then archive and export. Then you can upload the file to the request, and redact as you would any other document.

Capture any or all private electronic communication, including email, text, voicemail, and instant message. Smarshâs archive is secure and reliable, and is compliant with industry regulations, so you can take comfort that your data will remain private. We recommend ArchiveSocial for social media and website archiving.â

Streamline And Optimize Business Communications

Archiving Android and iPhone business texting exchanges provides troves of data that companies can mine for valuable insights. For example, companies can use successful text message conversions for employee training. Analyzing text message data can also uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your messaging strategy.

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Feith Gives Businesses The Tools To Master Their Messaging Records

Feith has the tools to manage your organizations mountain of texts and chat communications. With Feith, a business can record and store conversations in an easy-to-read, easy-to-find format. Once archived, all messages can be searched and controlled with the same tools used to meet your electronic document and records compliance goals. Feith lets you bring enterprise-grade Records Management to chat.

Why You Should Archive Your Business Text Messages

Business texting is going strong and is here to stay. Still, worldwide, many regulations demand that companies be able to record and produce text message exchanges when asked. For heavily regulated industries, like finance, healthcare, education, and government, the need to archive text messages is even more crucial. With this in mind, lets dive deeper into why organizations should archive text messages today.

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Benefits Of Text Message Archiving For Government Agency

In the summer of 2022, the Secret Service made the news for all the wrong reasons. The organization, usually known for its impeccable reputation,reportedly erased text messages related to an ongoing federal investigation. The actions prompted speculation from tech organizations and everyday citizens about text message archiving and whether forensic experts could recover these deleted messages.

Some people also wondered whether text message archiving for government bodies should expand into the White House. After all, the government archives the tweets of every President from the official account. Why not also invest in SMS archiving for government agents with high-level responsibilities, thereby eliminating the risk of a repeat of this incident? Consider these additional benefits.

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With more and more business being done via text messages, the need to capture and archive these communications is also becoming increasingly clear. Like social media, SMS can result in rapid-fire two-way communication thats particularly susceptible to data loss. What happens, for instance, if a conversation with a customer is deleted from an employees mobile device? Does an easily-accessible copy of that interaction exist anywhere else?

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Understanding Text Messaging Trends And Habits

Knowing how people use text messaging is crucial to creating a communication policy that encourages efficient collaboration and supports recordkeeping compliance. But its also important to recognize that many people perceive texts as being private communication, which may stem from its history.

The email channel started as a business tool, but then it became possible for people to create email accounts for personal use, says John Rowe, VP of Sales for Government of Smarsh. Whereas text began as a personal communication channel that migrated to the business world. Many people still have an impression that text messages that contain business-related content are private, which isnt the case anymore.

A common trend that can be seen at both federal and local levels across the country is the use of personal devices to send business-related texts. Despite messages being sent or received on personal devices, courts have consistently ruled that government-related texts are considered public records. Federal workers shouldnt expect privacy when it comes to work communications, whether they are in the form of emails, text messages or anything else.

Why You Need To Archive Mobile Communications In The Government Sector

Today we look at mobile text archiving for government agencies and why its crucial for both federal and state agencies to preserve all business-related communication from mobile devices. Well look at the laws that regulate public sector archiving, as well as features you should look for in your archiving solution to ensure full compliance with relevant legislation.

Without a doubt, mobile has transformed the way we do business. It has become the preferred communication channel for a large number of organizations, including those in the public sector.

The benefits of mobile communication are obvious 90% of text messages are read within 3 minutes and 90% are answered within a minute. The immediacy and effortlessness of texting is unparalleled, especially when compared to email.

With the advance of social media and mobile, companies were suddenly faced with brand new challenges regarding the management, monitoring and retention of whats being communicated on those channels.

Public Sector Social Media Archiving

Following the rise of social media and mobile, legislation in various countries and industries has been changed to include the retention of business records from these alternative channels, mobile included.

This made the archiving of mobile content a new, yet essential business practice that is quickly becoming a standard, especially in highly regulated industries such as financial, government, healthcare and education.

FOIA

Sunshine Laws

NARA

2. Disposal Options

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Setting Up Connector To Archive Enterprise Number Data

Relating back to the Microsoft 365 GCC solutions, it is important to realize that a FedRAMP compliance is achieved successfully only when the right connections are established for the flow of data from mobile devices. Notably, the best mobile archiving solutions for such purposes are the ones that allow Microsoft 365 compliance centers to import and archive SMS, chat messages, and voice call recordings from the enterprise instant messaging software. A more detailed guide about how a connector can be setup to archive data from TeleMessage Enterprise Number Archiver is offered by Microsoft.

One Single Unified Platform

From messaging and collaboration tools, to seamless data migration backed by secure, powerful archiving.

Global Relay Archive helps government agencies capture and retain electronic communication records, including text messaging, email, and social media, in a single repository, with built-in tools for search/eDiscovery and export.

Reduce cost and save time with a single platform and single source of truth.

Seamless data capture

Seamlessly capture any electronic communications data, with special emphasis on email, IM, video conferencing, social media, and text messaging.

Unparalleled scalability

Scale seamlessly for increasing user counts and data volumes, with no system performance, or speed issues.

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Pro Tip #: Know Your Laws & Make Policies

Even though every state has a different policy when it comes to text messages, the general consensus is that texts are public record. This list of public record laws across the 50 states gives a brief overview of how each state handles SMS. While some states do not specifically address text messages in their laws, some categorize them under other forms of electronic communication. Others simply state they are to be treated as any other form of record. Some states have no policy regarding texts at all however, even if your state doesnât explicitly address text messages, it is best to err on the side of transparency. Texting between government employees is not going to subside in fact, it will only grow. If your state doesnât have a rule for handling texts right now, you can be sure it will in the future.â

For Highlands County, Florida, their defining line was that âtext messages relating to public business are public records whether sent or received on a government or private cell phone.â If it relates to public business, then it is a public record.

âThe Washington State Supreme Court determined their own definition as well, having sparked a ruling from requests made in Pierce County, that âtext messages sent and received by a public employee, in the employee’s official capacity, are public records of the government employerâeven if the employee used a private cell phone.â

A good rule of thumb for defining a public text record:

Pro Tip #: Do Not Delete

The first step in maintaining transparency is making sure officials do not delete their text messages. It should go without saying, but there have been enough cases to make it worth mentioning.

âPhiladelphia Mayor Jim Kenney received due backlash against the news he used his personal cell phone during his time in office and deleted all messages, regardless of nature, circumventing the cityâs record retention policy. Whether those texts were open to public review cannot be determined.

âFormer Missouri Governor Eric Greitens was sued for denying the release of public records, those which were deleted. Greitens used a text-deleting app called Confide, and it was found so did other officials close to him.

âBoston Mayor Marty Walsh underwent scrutiny for deleting messages. Per the article from Boston Magazine, âDestroying them is illegal under the state public records law, which calls for all electronic correspondence to be retained for at least two years, even if it contains no âinformational or evidential valueâ.

Overall, deleting texts goes against the public right to information, and officials or agencies could get into trouble for destroying those potential records.â

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Office 365 Dod And Gcc High

The Government tier of Microsoft 365 focused on the United States Department of Defense is DoD. Although identical to GCC High, the target audience and applicability differs when it comes to 365 DoD. Principally, no contractors or outside personnel have access to the data that resides in this cloud environment.

The only difference between DoD and GCC High for Microsoft 365 solutions is that the GCC High exists in its own sovereign environment and does not offer features such as Calling Plans, Compliance Manager, and Defender ATP, etc. Finally, GCC High is applicable to the Defense Industrial Base , Federal Agencies, and DoD contractors.

Top Tips For Tackling Text Messages In Your Public Records Process

Theyâre unwieldy, theyâre hard to track down, and they eat up precious work hours. Text messages are the ogre in your records request fairy tale. Alas, the course of true love transparency never did run smooth. Is dealing with text records a hopeless affair, or is there a better way forward?

Agencies all across the country are having issues processing the requests for relevant text messages. Regardless of your commitment to transparency, text records are simply difficult to track down, bundle together, and process. It is exactly what North Carolinaâs agencies faced when record requests began increasing for text messages sent and received by the stateâs top officials. As the Knoxville News Sentinel states, âWithout ready help from phone carriers or a program designed to make the process efficient, state officials say that providing text messages in response to public records requests is cumbersome and time-consuming.â

Getting an accurate estimate of SMS messages that are public record is problematic, as the number of government-issued phones is unknown. Likewise, messages sent on private devices regarding public issues are still part of the public record—-IF agencies are lucky enough to track them down. As a test of North Carolinaâs adherence to records law, various media outlets requested texts made by state officials. The response from the state departments was varied, and mostly incomplete or without context if they released records at all.

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Smarsh Introduces Groundbreaking Text Message Archiving Solution For Federal Government

Federal Archive from Smarsh receives FedRAMP Authorization enables federal agencies to satisfy FOIA requests, legal challenges and records preservation mandates

Portland, OR Smarsh, enabling organizations to manage the risk and uncover the value within their electronic communications, today introduced Federal Archive, the cloud-based mobile text message archiving solution for federal agencies. The platform is purpose-built to help organizations capture, retain, search and produce employee text messages in support of records preservation, Freedom of Information Act and litigation preparedness initiatives.

Smarsh has received Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program Moderate Authorization for Federal Archive.

Federal Archive is the only text message archiving solution with FedRAMP Authorization available on the market today. Federal agencies are moving from legacy IT to more nimble, cost-effective and secure cloud-based solutions, and working with FedRAMP-Authorized providers enables agencies to save time and money in the vendor diligence process. The FedRAMP program provides a standardized approach for all agencies to conduct security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. According to the Office of Management and Budget, any cloud services that hold federal data must be FedRAMP Authorized.

About Smarsh

Establish One Version Of The Truth

Leading on from the last section, not having a clear record of the truth can lead to conflicts and disputes between employees and clients. The reality is human beings arent perfect. Sometimes we misremember an exchange, forget about it entirely, or in some cases, intentionally delete communications were not proud of.

The way companies use mobile messaging has changed significantly over the last decade. In the past, employees were almost always given a dedicated company smartphone if they were expected to communicate with clients on the move. However, today, its much more common for employers to adopt a Bring Your Own Device approach, where employees can use their personal phones. In addition, some companies define additional protocols like requiring employees to use a dedicated business communication app that has its own company phone number.

While the BYOD approach has many benefits for both employees and businesses, such as lowering costs and training burden, it comes with unique risks. For example, employees may fall into texting habits they have for their personal mobile, even when communicating with clients. And then what happens if an employee deletes a text exchange and pretends it never happened? The same could happen on the client-side too. Another critical issue when adopting BYOD is the need to for privacy and regulatory compliance reasons.

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Create An Enterprise Number Archiver Connector

After you’ve completed the prerequisites described in the previous section, you can create an Enterprise Number Archiver connector in the compliance portal. The connector uses the information you provide to connect to the TeleMessage site and transfer SMS, MMS, and voice call messages to the corresponding user mailbox boxes in Microsoft 365.

Why Is Message Archiving Important

• Ensure compliance with Federal regulations: By law, all agencies must capture communications, including text messages, discussing official agency business. By archiving mobile texts, you can ensure that your organization is in compliance with these regulations.
• Maintain internal policies: In addition to external regulations, many agencies have internal policies around the nature and content of communications. Archived text messages can be used to enforce these policies and ensure that employees are adhering to them.
• Aid in investigations and litigation: In the event of an investigation or litigation, text messages can be a valuable source of information. By archiving mobile texts, you can ensure that this data is available if it is needed.

Feiths message archiving solution helps agencies meet these needs by providing a comprehensive, searchable record of all messages sent and received by employees, regardless of the device.

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What Is Microsoft Gcc

The Microsoft Office 365 Government Community Cloud is a cloud-based solution powered by Azure Government, with data centers in the continental United States to help organizations ensure compliance with cybersecurity regulations and federal laws. The Microsoft GCC solutions are available for use by private organizations and government agencies that aspire to comply with regulations such as FedRAMP, CMMC, and DFARS 7012.

Create Better Marketing Campaigns

Mobile marketing is far more effective than email marketing due to text messages high open rates and response rates. By archiving marketing SMS messages, companies have a comprehensive overview of their mobile marketing campaigns and can use this information to create more effective campaigns in the future.

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