The benefits of SaaS productivity solutions like Microsoft 365 (previously known as Microsoft Office 365) are more evident in today’s mobile world – simple access to documents from any device and increased collaboration are some of the notable benefits.
The user base of Microsoft 365 has significantly grown over the last few years, and it emerged as the most widely used enterprise cloud productivity service today. The sudden outbreak of the global pandemic triggered the remote work culture, which caused a massive adoption of Microsoft 365. During this period itself, Microsoft 365 has managed to double its user count.
Still, many organizations believe that backup is no longer necessary for Microsoft 365 data. This misconception is because many believe the data in the cloud is backed up automatically, and others believe that Microsoft 365 offers all mechanisms to prevent data loss.
When it comes to data protection, the fact is that Microsoft adopts a shared responsibility model, under which it focuses on the security of its data centers, their availability, as well as authentication and identification within its cloud services. Just because Microsoft takes responsibility for the underlying infrastructure does not mean they own all of their user data. It is still the responsibility of the user to protect the data from various threats.
Backing up Microsoft 365 data is the best way to meet that responsibility. In this blog we look at the critical reasons to backup Microsoft 365, and what you can do to secure your organization’s critical Microsoft 365 data.
Critical Reasons to Backup Microsoft 365
1. Accidental Deletion
Regardless of how advanced technology has become, any process involving humans will inevitably result in human error. Even minor errors can result in the loss of important data. When this happens, cloud storage solutions like OneDrive aren’t enough – deleting files from cloud storage deletes them from all synced devices and networks, meaning they’re gone for good.
By default the recycle bin keeps the data for 14 days and an administrator can extend the period to 30 days, but still, it is insufficient time to discover that something important has been deleted by mistake. If you don’t have a Microsoft 365 cloud backup or on-premise backup strategy in place, your data will be completely unrecoverable once the 30-day period has passed. However, with proper Microsoft 365 backup, you can quickly undo changes to retrieve lost data or restore user accounts that were accidentally deleted.
2. Internal Security Threats
Even if we eliminate the possibility of human error, there’s always the possibility that disgruntled or dishonest employees will purposefully delete the sensitive data. Microsoft 365 has no way of knowing whether the deletion was accidental, intentional, or malicious.
If someone deletes sensitive data in secret and then waits for the recycle bin to run out of time, then there is no way to recover critical data that has been permanently deleted. Once the recycle bin is emptied, there is no way to restore the data back.
3. External Security Threats
On the other hand, hacking attempts, viruses, and malware attacks are happening every day. These attacks are getting worse and the number of cyberattacks against small and medium-sized businesses is increasing.
Even with proper employee training, phishing attempts are bound to succeed in some cases and open the door for hackers to infiltrate and disrupt data within your organization. Hackers can use these attempts to steal employee login credentials for VPNs, email accounts, and other services, and then install malicious software like ransomware to threaten you to pay the ransom. You can always restore your system to the most recent version before an attack if you make frequent backups.
4. Legal and Compliance Requirements
Litigation holds can be unpredictable, but when they occur, you must be ready with all of your data saved and accessible. As a business, you want to know that your data will be available when you need it, especially when it is required to demonstrate compliance or other legal investigations.
The enterprise-level subscriptions of Microsoft 365 provide some native litigation hold capability, but it is solely intended to preserve data for e-discovery, not intended to restore lost data, which might be vital in legal and regulatory problems.
You have two options if you need to meet high industry standards,
- Subscribe to the more expensive Enterprise Edition of Microsoft 365 which provides some data protection for litigation holds
- Use a cost-effective third-party backup solution like BDRSuite for Microsoft 365 that helps assure you are fulfilling data retention rules for litigation holds or standard compliance while saving money
5. Retention Policy Gaps and Confusion
Retaining the mailbox data of a departed employee can be important, but maintaining access for the long term is costly. Unfortunately, Microsoft retains the email data of the deactivated user only for a short period of time.
Instead of paying the Microsoft 365 monthly subscription for a departed employee to retain their mailbox data, setting up a third-party Office 365 backup software and backing up the user data could be a better approach. It keeps the mailbox data of the deactivated account available even after an employee leaves the organization.
Also, 30 days is the maximum retention period for an administrator to restore the accidentally deleted data or restore the data from a deleted user account. But by using a third-party backup solution like BDRSuite, you can retain the data for a longer period.
6. Managing Hybrid Email Deployments and Migrations
Backups are essential during any migration because they act as a safety net. In the case of staged migration, where new Outlook profiles must be created for each user, the lack of a Microsoft Office 365 backup could completely destroy the process.
Even with Exchange Hybrid migration, where on-premises mailboxes and newly migrated cloud mailboxes coexist much more robustly, a solid Microsoft 365 backup solution eliminates the possibility of high-level issues during hybrid email deployment and migration processes, and ensures that you always have a protected copy of your data.
BDRSuite Backup for Microsoft 365
BDRSuite Backup for Microsoft 365 is the complete solution to backup Microsoft 365 mailbox. From a centralized web-based user interface, you can configure the backup for Exchange Online Mailbox, Contacts, Calendar, SharePoint Online, Teams Online, and OneDrive for Business so that you can focus on more important issues besides security threats and retention policy gaps.
Using BDRSuite, you can set up an office 365 backup job for the entire domain or selected user data and store the O365 backup data flexibly on any storage medium of your choice. During the restore, you can restore the selected user mailbox or individual mail to the same or different user mailbox. You can even download the data into multiple formats like PST, EML, and a lot more.
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