Exchange Public Folder stores must be retained until backups are complete.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-69989	EX13-MB-000125	SV-84611r1_rule		Medium

Description
Backup and recovery procedures are an important part of overall system availability and integrity. Complete backups reduce the chance of accidental deletion of important information and make it possible to have complete recoveries. It is not uncommon for users to receive and delete documents in the scope of a single backup cycle. This setting ensures at least one backup has been run on the folder store before the message physically disappears. By enabling this setting, all messages written to recipients who have accounts on this store will reside in backups even if they have been deleted by the user before the backup has run.

Description

Backup and recovery procedures are an important part of overall system availability and integrity. Complete backups reduce the chance of accidental deletion of important information and make it possible to have complete recoveries. It is not uncommon for users to receive and delete documents in the scope of a single backup cycle. This setting ensures at least one backup has been run on the folder store before the message physically disappears. By enabling this setting, all messages written to recipients who have accounts on this store will reside in backups even if they have been deleted by the user before the backup has run.

STIG	Date
MS Exchange 2013 Mailbox Server Security Technical Implementation Guide	2019-09-25

Details

Check Text ( C-70461r1_chk )
If public folders are not used, this check is not applicable. Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command: Get-PublicFolderDatabase \| Select Name, Identity, RetainDeletedItemsUntilBackup If the value of RetainDeletedItemsUntilBackup is not set to True, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-76223r1_fix)
Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command: Set-PublicFolderDatabase -Identity <'IdentityName'> -RetainDeletedItemsUntilBackup $true Note: The value must be in quotes.