A business provides long-term cold storage services to banks that are required to follow regulator-imposed data retention guidelines. Banks that use these services require that data is disposed of in a specific manner at the conclusion of the regulatory threshold for data retention. Which of the following aspects of data management is the most important to the bank in the destruction of this data?
Correct Answer: B
Classification is the process of assigning a level of sensitivity and handling requirements to data, which informs its lifecycle management, retention, and disposal methods. In regulated industries such as banking, proper data classification ensures that data subject to legal or regulatory requirements is destroyed according to those requirements at the end of its retention period. This directly guides how the data should be handled and disposed of.
Reference:
CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Official Study Guide, Domain 5.4: "Classification dictates data handling, storage, retention, and destruction policies in compliance with regulatory requirements." Exam Objectives 5.4: "Given a scenario, implement data security and privacy practices."