Patent ID: 9195665
Filing Date: 2015-11-24
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
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.