Today businesses prefer to keep and manage data in the cloud. And no wonder, as the cloud is one of the safest and most convenient places to handle and store business information. Microsoft 365 is among the top providers of cloud services. Yet, the overall security of Microsoft 365 infrastructure doesn’t provide full data protection. Even with basic security measures taken care of, Microsoft 365 is still susceptible to data loss. But what can actually happen to your Microsoft 365 data and why having an efficient Office 365 backup solution is a number one priority for most organizations? In this blog, we are going to explore the top 5 reasons to back up your Office 365.
# 1 Accidental Deletions
Microsoft’s Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online are frequently used by organizations for email services and data management. Accidental deletions take place when employees unintentionally delete an email, file, folder or even the whole library. But what happens to the item when it has been deleted? Microsoft 365 has different retention policies depending on the app.
- A deleted mailbox can stay in the recycle bin for less than 30 days before it’s permanently deleted
- If the account is reassigned to a new user or the user account has been deleted by the administrator, all the data associated with the account can be permanently deleted.
- The deleted items are removed from the recycle bin after a 30-day period
- But if you use your work or school account account the items are kept for 93 days
- The deleted item stays in the recycle bin for 93 days
- If you delete an item from the recycle bin it goes to the second-stage recycle bin and remains there for the remainder of the 93-day period.
Accidental deletions involve human error and can occur under multiple circumstances. For example:
- An important file is accidentally moved to the recycle bin and gets permanently deleted upon the expiration of the retention policy
- An employee deletes a document without knowing that the document has high value and should be kept. Then the document gets permanently deleted without being noticed.
- An employee leaves the company and their user account and mailbox are permanently deleted by the administrator. Later, it becomes evident that the account held valuable information.
- An employee deletes data and for some technical reasons it cannot be restored during a retention period
At first glance, it looks pretty simple. To avoid accidental deletions, businesses should follow the best data protection policies. But in the real world things can get hectic, and often critical data gets permanently deleted. That’s where backing up Office 365 can save the day.
#2 Ransomware attacks
You can get hit by ransomware if you download an infected file, click a malicious link or mistakenly grant permissions to your Microsoft 365 account. In addition, if the files in your OneDrive for Business or your SharePoint files on your physical machine become infected, ransomware can use file synchronization to get to the cloud environment.[1] Though Microsoft 365 provides comprehensive malware protection, some ransomware can trick the security systems and find its way to your physical machine. Ransomware attacks are unpleasant events, but they can be overcome with ease if you have an efficient backup solution. If ransomware has temporarily disabled your Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online environments, you can recover all necessary data from a backup and continue with your daily tasks.
#3 Internal threats
Microsoft reports[2] a potential increase of insider threats. An insider attack can be launched by a disgruntled employee who may delete or otherwise compromise the company’s data. This type of scenario is a serious concern because numerous businesses rely on their data in their daily workflows. In such circumstances, backups play a major role in the recovery process. Thus, businesses are recommended to follow the golden standard for data backup – a 3-2-1 rule which recommends having at least three backup copies. You can keep two copies on different storage media and one copy offsite. By having multiple backup copies, your company can successfully battle an insider attack.
# 4 Retention Policy Gaps
Having an efficient retention policy is vital for smart data management. Retention policies allow administrators to retain or delete information within a specified period of time. With Microsoft 365 retention policy settings an administrator can:[3]
- Keep the account content indefinitely
- Retain the account for a certain time frame
- Delete content after an indicated period
- Maintain the content for specific time and then delete it
A common scenario: an employee leaves the company. The employee’s account is removed by the administrator, or it gets automatically deleted after a 30-day retention period. After a couple of months, it turns out there was highly important data in the user’s email. Yet, the account is permanently deleted and can only be recovered with the right backup policies in place.
# 5 Legal Grounds
Loss of information can be detrimental for most businesses. Record-keeping is important for report-filing, documentation compliance and court cases. When an employee leaves the company, the associated user account is usually deleted upon expiration of the retention period. However, often that account contains critical data pertinent to a legal case or an ongoing project. In this scenario, the only way to retrieve the lost data is to perform a recovery of the Exchange Online mailbox, OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online. Yet, if you know which document you are looking for, an efficient backup solution allows you to recover just that single document without the need for a full recovery.
To
learn more about how to backup Office 365, check this page here.
[1] Can ransomware attack Microsoft 365, NetApp, 2021
[2] Microsoft Digital Defence Report, Microsoft, 2020
[3] Learn about retention policies and retention labels, Microsoft, 2021
