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Most EDR platforms keep raw endpoint telemetry for a limited window—commonly 30–90 days—while some vendors let you extend storage to six months or longer. Retention choices affect detection accuracy, forensic work, compliance, and storage expense, so teams must choose based on risk and regulatory needs.
EDR data is the stream of telemetry collected from endpoints—process activity, file events, network connections, registry changes, and authentication records. It gives security teams the situational awareness needed to spot suspicious behavior and perform root-cause analysis. Platforms process and index this data so analysts can hunt for indicators of compromise. Machine learning and correlation engines often enrich raw telemetry to reduce noise. Without that telemetry, detecting stealthy or slow-moving attacks becomes much harder.
Most vendors keep full-fidelity telemetry for 30–90 days by default, but many offer paid tiers or configuration to keep data longer. Some customers archive selected events to cold storage for six months or a year to support legal holds and deep forensics. Retaining everything indefinitely is rare because raw endpoint logs are high-volume and costly to store. Vendors balance search performance and cost; search across six months of raw telemetry can be slow and expensive. Ask for clear retentionSLAs when evaluating providers.
Answer: the correct retention window depends on your threat model, compliance obligations, and budget. If you face advanced adversaries or long-dwell threats, longer retention—90 days or more—helps find indicators that only appear in historical data. Regulatory frameworks (e.g., finance or healthcare rules) may mandate specific minimums. Storage costs and the impact on system performance are the practical constraints. Finally, consider the availability of cold archives for less-frequently accessed data.
Yes — many modern EDR platforms let you set different retention rules for high-value artifacts versus raw telemetry. For example, keep alerts and process trees longer while pruning noisy system events sooner. This tiered approach preserves forensic capability where it matters and lowers storage bills. You can also define retention by endpoint group, user role, or data sensitivity. Regularly review those rules to match changing business or regulatory needs.
Longer retention improves investigators’ ability to reconstruct timelines and identify patient-zero in incidents. If telemetry is purged after 30 days, attacks with long dwell times may be impossible to analyze fully. Archiving notable events or snapshots preserves evidence for legal or compliance reviews. Conversely, short windows force reliance on backups or other logs that may not contain endpoint-level detail. Plan retention to support the investigation timelines your incident response team needs.
Storing endpoint telemetry at scale can be expensive, especially with full-fidelity data across thousands of devices. Cold storage or aggregated summaries reduce cost but sacrifice search speed and detail. Tiered storage and selective retention let teams keep critical artifacts while compressing or deleting bulk records. Budget for both storage and the compute needed to index and search retained data. Evaluate vendor pricing models closely—some charge per device, others per GB of retention.
Yes — searching and correlating very large data stores can slow queries and increase compute costs. Many platforms mitigate this with indexed summaries or by separating hot and cold storage. Expect longer historical searches to take more time or require special tools. Plan for retention testing to confirm your chosen window still meets SLAs for investigation speed. Use sampling or indexed tagging to make long-term queries more efficient.
Regulatory requirements can drive retention windows — for instance, financial and healthcare regulators often require longer records. You must map applicable laws to your retention policy and be prepared to produce logs on demand. Data privacy laws also affect what you can store and for how long. Implement access controls and auditing for any retained telemetry to meet compliance. When in doubt, consult legal counsel and document your retention rationale.
MSPs can tailor retention settings per client to balance cost, compliance, and risk. They often use centralized archives and per-customer policies to reduce duplication. For MSPs, automation and clear SLAs matter—clients expect visibility into how long data is kept and how it’s protected. Offer options: basic windows for cost-sensitive clients and extended retention for regulated or high-risk customers. Regular reporting on retention and incident investigations builds trust.
Practice incident simulations that require using historical data to confirm your retention supports real investigations. Run searches across the full retention window to measure query times and result quality. Verify that archived artifacts are recoverable and properly indexed. Update retention rules based on exercise findings and changes in threat landscape. Keep stakeholders informed of any policy changes that affect evidence availability.
Yes — many vendors support exporting telemetry to cloud storage or SIEM systems for long-term archiving. Exporting to cost-optimized object storage is a common strategy for retaining months or years of data. Ensure exported data is encrypted and access-controlled. Keep export formats documented so you can restore or analyze the data later. Use automated pipelines to send high-value artifacts to external archives on defined schedules.
Recommendation: use at least 90 days for environments with moderate risk, 6–12 months for regulated industries or high-threat profiles, and shorter windows (30 days) only for low-risk, budget-constrained setups. Combine full-fidelity short-term storage with longer-term archives for alerts and forensic snapshots. Tailor retention by business unit, data sensitivity, and contractual obligations. Reassess periodically as threats and compliance needs evolve.
For tools and guidance on configuring retention policies, see Palisade’s EDR retention resources: EDR retention best practices.
It can be for low-risk environments, but aggressive attackers may dwell longer than 30 days—so it’s risky for critical assets. If you must use 30 days, archive high-value evidence and consider supplementing with other logs. Use threat intelligence to evaluate whether short windows are acceptable. For many organizations, 90 days is a safer baseline. Align the window with your incident response SLA.
Potentially — retaining telemetry can raise privacy obligations under data protection laws. Limit exposure with anonymization, access controls, and retention justifications. Regularly purge data that is no longer needed. Document the legal basis for retention and run periodic privacy impact assessments. Coordinate with compliance and legal teams.
Maintain logs of exports, use tamper-evident storage (signed hashes), and track access with audit logs. Store metadata that records when and by whom data was moved or accessed. Use automated, auditable pipelines for exports to reduce human error. Preserve original timestamps and event IDs to support investigations. Consult legal counsel when preparing evidence for court.
Keeping everything is costly and often unnecessary; instead, prioritize what helps detection and investigations. Use tiered retention and automated pruning to control costs. Keep full-fidelity data for a reasonable short-term window and archive summarized artifacts longer. Regularly review what you actually query—if you never search certain data, consider shorter retention. Make decisions based on risk and ROI.
Palisade offers flexible retention settings and consulting to help MSPs and security teams balance cost, performance, and compliance. We enable tiered storage, custom retention rules per client, and secure export capabilities for long-term archives. Our team can help map regulatory needs to technical settings and provide reporting to demonstrate compliance. Reach out via Palisade support for tailored guidance.
