Patent ID: 7587418

Claim:
A method to manage data located on networked devices, comprising: replicating objects residing on the devices as part of a data loss protection process, the objects being one of a file, a document, a record, a table, or a database, the devices including at least a governance client and a storage device; collecting information about at least one of the objects or the devices, the collected information including attributes of the devices, policies for managing the objects on the devices and usage statistics of the objects; receiving input on desired information governance policies and outcomes; and analyzing the replicated objects, collected information and received input to determine an information governance action, the information governance action associated with a desired information governance policy defining how the objects residing on the various devices are governed, the information governance action including: properly disposing of information, including at least the following steps, analyzing the replicated objects to identify identical objects residing on the devices, and flagging any identical copy of an object when the object has expired; preserving information security and information privacy, including at least the following steps, running analytics on the replicated objects to identify confidential objects, evaluating compliance with the desired information governance policies based on the results of running the analytics and the collected information, flagging non-compliance with the policies; and sending non-compliance notifications via at least one electronic device to a user associated with an object or device in violation; conducting information life management across the network, including at least the following steps, detecting duplicate objects residing on the devices by analyzing the replicated objects, evaluating a number of online, nearline, and offline copies needed for each of the objects based on the collected information and the received input, and determining a course of action to achieve the determined number of online, nearline and offline copies; holistically retrieving information for search operations and restore operations, including at least the following steps, analyzing the replicated objects to identify identical objects residing on the devices, selecting a copy of an object to be retrieved based on the collected information, and retrieving the selected copy; and applying consolidation and control over the information in the network, wherein the analyzing the replicated data objects further comprises: determining whether unencrypted private information is included in the data objects; and determining whether unencrypted information in the data objects is confidential to an organization.