Data Destruction Policy

At VerifiedDataOps, the confidentiality and security of your data are paramount. This Data Destruction Policy explains our practices regarding the deletion and removal of client-provided data from our systems. In line with our core values of privacy and precision, we operate on a principle of zero-retention by default – meaning we do not keep your uploaded data or documents any longer than absolutely necessary to perform the service you’ve requested. This policy outlines how quickly we delete data, the measures we take to ensure its erasure, and the rare circumstances (if any) under which data may be retained longer by exception.

Scope

This policy applies to all “Uploaded Content” or data files that clients provide to VerifiedDataOps for processing, as well as any intermediate files or outputs containing portions of that data. It covers data uploaded via our web interface, APIs, or provided to us through secure channels for the purpose of using our Service. Internal company data and operational logs are outside the scope of this document (though we minimize any sensitive info in logs as well). The goal of this policy is to reassure clients – including those in highly regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and legal – that their data will not linger on our systems after the job is done.

Automatic Deletion Timeline (24-Hour Deletion)

Standard Deletion Window: All client Uploaded Content is scheduled for permanent deletion within 24 hours after the completion of the processing task or service delivery for which it was provided. In most cases, the deletion happens much sooner (often immediately after delivering the output to you), but we use 24 hours as an upper limit to account for any necessary post-processing checks or potential reruns you might request in the immediate aftermath. This means that if you submit a document or dataset to us, once we have processed it and returned the results to you, our systems automatically flag your original files (and any direct outputs stored on our servers) for deletion, and typically purge them in well under a day.

For example, if you uploaded a file at 3:00 PM and our service returned the result by 3:15 PM, then by roughly 3:15 PM the next day (if not much sooner), that uploaded file and its processed result file will have been expunged from our storage. In practice, many files are deleted overnight during maintenance cycles, often just a few hours after processing. We maintain scripts and automated routines that handle this deletion reliably, to avoid human error and ensure consistency.

Verification of Deletion: Deletions are performed in a manner that ensures the data is not recoverable. This involves removing references to the files in our databases, deleting the files from storage, and in certain cases overwriting or versioning out the data. We perform periodic audits to verify that data scheduled for deletion has indeed been removed. Additionally, system logs record deletion events for accountability. If a deletion job fails (due to, say, a server interruption), our system raises an alert and will retry the deletion until confirmed.

No Retention by Default

Our philosophy is that we simply don’t keep what we don’t need. By default, after performing the service, we have no reason to keep your data around – so we don’t. We do not build profiles on you, we do not reuse your data for any secondary purpose, and we certainly do not want the liability of storing sensitive client data longer than necessary. This default stance is part of our commitment to privacy by design and by default. It significantly reduces the risk that your sensitive information could be exposed in the event of any unauthorized access, and it aligns with strict data protection requirements (such as GDPR’s data minimization principle).

Explicit Retention by Client Request: The only scenario in which your uploaded data would remain on our systems beyond the 24-hour window is if you explicitly request that we retain it for a longer period. For instance, perhaps you have an ongoing project and will need us to re-run or reference the same data tomorrow, or you need the output to remain available for download for a couple of days. In such cases, we can accommodate your request by extending the retention for a specified duration (as mutually agreed). Any such retained data will still be handled securely – access will be restricted, and the data will be deleted immediately once the retention period ends or once you notify us that it’s no longer needed (whichever comes first). If you need extended retention, please communicate this to us in writing, and ideally specify the time frame. If not specified, we will assume the shortest necessary extension.

Legal Exceptions: In rare cases, we might be compelled to retain certain data for longer if required by law – for example, if subject to a legal hold, court order, or subpoena in connection with a legal proceeding. Even in these cases, the data would be isolated and protected, and only retained for the duration required by law. It would not be used for any business purpose during that time.

Secure Deletion Practices

When we delete your data, we aim to do so in a secure manner. This includes:

Deleting from Active Storage: We remove the files from our active file storage systems (such as our cloud storage buckets or file servers) using secure deletion commands or API calls. In cloud environments, deleting an object typically renders it inaccessible, and the cloud provider’s infrastructure may zero-out or overwrite the blocks over time. For databases that might contain snippets of your data, we issue deletion commands to remove those entries as well.

Scrubbing from Application Memory: Our application processes that handle your data are designed to flush data from memory once processing is done. We avoid unnecessary caching of entire documents or datasets in logs or persistent storage. Any transient caches are cleared frequently. In languages or environments where manual memory management is possible, we take steps to overwrite sensitive variables after use.

Logs and Derived Data: We try to avoid logging raw content from your files. However, if any logs or audit trails contain fragments of your data (for example, a log might contain a filename or a summary of process results), those logs are protected and subject to secure disposal as well. We set short retention periods for logs that might incidentally include data identifiers. When logs “age out,” they are deleted. We ensure that derived analytics or aggregate statistics cannot be used to reconstruct your source data.

Backups and Redundancy: Our system may create backups or replicas as part of normal redundancy (for reliability). For instance, there might be a short-term backup of our database or storage volumes. These are also governed by this policy: any backup that contains your Uploaded Content is ephemeral. We use rolling backups that overwrite themselves frequently. In the event we restore from a backup after your data was supposed to be deleted, our systems will re-run the deletion on the restored data. In practice, our 24-hour deletion window is shorter than our backup rotation schedule, meaning after a short period, even our backups won’t contain your data. If a backup system retains daily snapshots, we configure it such that sensitive user-uploaded data directories are excluded if feasible, or the snapshots expire very quickly. Additionally, all backups are encrypted and access to them is strictly controlled.

Confirmation and Documentation: Upon request, we can confirm that your data has been deleted. We maintain internal documentation of our data destruction procedures and can share details (to the extent that doing so does not compromise security) if you require them for compliance reasons. For instance, if you are auditing us for GDPR or HIPAA compliance, we can describe how our deletion process works in more depth and what evidence is logged.

Encrypted Transit and Storage

Although this policy is primarily about deletion, it’s worth reiterating how we handle your data while it does exist on our systems (briefly as it may be):

Encrypted Transit: All data uploads and downloads between you and VerifiedDataOps are protected by HTTPS/TLS encryption. This prevents eavesdropping in transit. Likewise, if our servers communicate with each other or with trusted third-party services for processing (for example, if we use a secure processing microservice), those communications are also encrypted.

Encrypted Storage: While your data resides with us (prior to deletion), it is stored in encrypted form. Our databases, file systems, or cloud storage buckets employ strong encryption (AES-256 or equivalent) to safeguard the data at rest. This means that even if someone were to obtain the physical storage or snapshots, they would not be able to read your files without the encryption keys (which are securely managed).

Access Controls: Only our authorized system or application processes (and very limited staff, when necessary) can access the locations where your data is stored. As mentioned, we avoid manual human access to client files whenever possible, sticking to automated processing. Our team operates under the principle of least privilege.

These measures ensure that during the short time we have your data, it is well protected, and once deleted, it’s as if it was never there in the first place.

Avoiding Residual Traces in Backups and Systems

We acknowledge that one of the challenges in data destruction is ensuring that no residual traces of the data remain inadvertently in any corner of the system (for example, in server swap files, temporary directories, backups, or logs). We take the following steps to address this:

Containerization/Isolation: Our data processing tasks often run in isolated containers or temporary environments that are destroyed after task completion. This means any ephemeral storage used during processing is wiped when the container is disposed of. We use clean-up routines to remove any temp files the moment they are no longer needed.

No Mixing of Client Data: We do not mix multiple clients’ data in the same files or databases. Each client’s upload is handled separately, reducing the chance that a piece of data inadvertently sticks around because it was interwoven with another data set. This segregation also means deletion can target specific data sets cleanly without affecting others.

Regular Purge Cycles: In addition to the on-demand deletion after each task, we run regular purge cycles on our systems to ensure nothing slipped through. For example, we might have a nightly job that double-checks that no files older than 24 hours remain in the upload directories. We also purge any failed uploads or partially processed data that may not have completed normally (ensuring that even if a process crashes, its data is not left on disk indefinitely).

Compliance and Industry Standards

This Data Destruction Policy is part of our broader commitment to security and privacy. We regularly review and update our data handling procedures to comply with evolving regulations and industry best practices. VerifiedDataOps’s practices are influenced by standards such as:

GDPR & Other Privacy Laws: As mentioned, rapid deletion by default is a form of compliance with the idea of data minimization and storage limitation under GDPR. If a client exercises the right to deletion (right to be forgotten), our infrastructure is already set up to delete their data quickly. We can certify deletion upon request. We also map our retention and deletion practices to meet requests under CCPA and other regimes.

ISO 27001 / SOC 2 Principles: While small startups might not yet be certified, we strive to follow the spirit of well-known security frameworks. That includes having policies like this, controlling data retention, and implementing access controls. In a SOC 2 context, our data destruction process would be part of the “Confidentiality” and “Privacy” trust principles, ensuring that data is disposed of to meet commitments and criteria.

HIPAA (if applicable): For any health-related data we might process, our 24-hour deletion policy and encryption practices support HIPAA requirements for protecting Protected Health Information (PHI). We do not keep ePHI beyond the needed timeframe, and thus reduce exposure. Our systems would be aligned with the HIPAA Security Rule’s requirements for disposing of PHI and handling it securely during its lifecycle.

Client Contracts: If we have specific B2B contracts or Data Processing Addendums that require particular data destruction protocols (for example, a client might stipulate that data be wiped within X hours and certifiably destroyed), we can meet or exceed those requirements through the measures in this policy. We can provide clients assurances or even reports of deletion if needed for their compliance.

Conclusion

In summary, VerifiedDataOps automatically deletes all uploaded client documents and data, typically within 24 hours of processing, by default. We maintain a zero-retention posture to protect our clients and their sensitive information. Our systems are engineered to achieve secure deletion and to avoid lingering traces of data. This policy reflects our dedication to privacy, security, and trust – we treat client data as a toxic asset that should be carefully handled and disposed of as soon as its purpose is fulfilled.