Why your organization needs to back up Microsoft 365

For reasons of simplicity and cost, we realize there is a temptation for many small business owners not to back up data hosted in Microsoft 365. But that could be a big mistake, and in a two-part blog series we outline why that is. 

Human error 

Humans make mistakes, and files can become overwritten or deleted with no ill-harm or malicious intent whatsoever. In fact, it’s estimated that 14% of data loss is caused by human error. 

Hitting delete instead of save may sound ridiculous, but we all know it happens. And if your company has the E1 subscription level of Office 365, then the default permanent deletion period for data in the recycle bin is 14 days. While this retention period can be increased from 14 to 30 days by an administrator, if it’s not noticed in time then that file or folder could be lost permanently. 

The value of an additional backup solution helps prevent against this kind of accidental data loss. 

Potential gaps 

Another area we have identified as having the potential to cause data loss if an Office 365 environment is not adequately backed up is in situations when a user has left a business, or a contractor’s agreement has not been renewed. Microsoft 365 retains data for a user’s account while that account remains active, or if it has been shared with another active user.  

Given that it’s unlikely to be an appealing approach to keep old accounts live, this situation represents another way that valuable company data could be lost. This could present the problem of continuity with managing a customer or providing consistent pricing for example, or alternatively lead to issues in the event of a lawsuit or compliance audit. 

As a potential solution, Microsoft recommends that users’ mailboxes are shared prior to deleting their account, but remembering to carry out this task can leave data prone to loss or data retention policies breached. Alternatively, SolarWinds Backup retains data for up to seven years as a default, and eradicates the need to keep old Office 365 licenses active.  

Internal threats 

While most instances of data breach are complete oversight or mistakes, there are the small majority of users that may be dishonest or disgruntled. In the event that one of those users maliciously or deliberately deletes data and then waits for the 14 day recycle bin retention period to elapse without anyone else knowing about it, your firm could again be in the firing line for data loss. 

Since Office 365 has no way of understanding whether or not a deletion action was intentional, malicious or simply human error, it has no way of treating data in different ways in the recycle bin. With the E1 license level, there is no way of reclaiming previously deleted data, which again means that data is lost permanently.  

Find out more

Sole Creation can assist with demonstrating and applying the MailProtector solution. In the meantime, watch this short video to learn more about the solution.