A public record, public archive, or protected record disposed of outside an authorised process; in effect, gone missing or improperly destroyed. Treat a suspected estray as a compliance incident.
An estray record is one that has been disposed of, or gone missing, outside the authorised process. Common causes are unmanaged drives, departing staff, ad hoc clean-ups, and uncontrolled mailbox deletions. Treat a suspected estray as a compliance incident and tell your IM/RM team.
IAR turns terms like this into working practice: assets classified against your disposal authority, stewarded by position, and ready to evidence.