Microsoft 365 (formerly called Office 365) is one of the most popular cloud platforms in the world. During the pandemic, it’s become even more popular because of all the tools it has to keep teams connected, no matter where they’re working from.
Nearly 600,000 U.S. companies rely on Microsoft 365 to power their daily business processes, but many are leaving their data in the platform at risk.
How?
Because they make the mistake of assuming that data is just magically being backed up for them, and don’t back up that data separately.
The mechanics of cloud platforms make it easy for your data to be accessed from anywhere and on any device. But that data is actually being stored on a real, physical server. This means that the data can be just as susceptible to loss if it’s not being properly backed up with a managed backup and recovery tool.
Why Do We Need to Back Up Our Microsoft 365 Data?
94% of enterprises are using at least one cloud service, and the numbers are similar for small and mid-sized businesses. It’s clear that the cloud isn’t only the future of business productivity, it’s the now.
It’s vital for business continuity and to ensure work is accessible from office, home, and anywhere else your people may need to be.
Business data is vital, and that business data stored in Microsoft 365 needs to be protected, just like data stored anywhere else.
Here are six reasons you need to back up your Microsoft 365 data in a separate backup and recovery application.
Cloud Data Can be Overwritten
Data in OneDrive or SharePoint can be overwritten by users or due to a virus or malware infection. This leaves your firm at risk if that data isn’t properly backed up.
It’s easy for a user to get confused and accidentally change a file when they meant to use it as a template and resave it under a different name. Once data is overwritten the original file can be lost for good if you don’t have a backup.
Cloud Data Can Be Deleted
Data in OneDrive can be set up to sync with a user’s device. This is great for making files available offline, but not so great if there’s a malfunction with that syncing that causes files to be deleted from the cloud.
Besides accidental data deletion by a user, a hacker that steals account login credentials can also come in and wipe out files of data automatically, deleting them from the system and purging the “trash” folder.
Cloud Storage is NOT the Same as Cloud Backup
Users often mistake cloud storage for cloud backup, but they’re not the same thing. This mistake can lead to serious data loss incidents.
- Cloud storage: Your files are kept online and updated automatically as users overwrite, save, or delete them.
- Cloud backup: Takes a snapshot of all your files at a given time, users don’t have access to edit any files in that backup.
Ransomware Can Attack Cloud Data
Some forms of ransomware are designed to seek out connections with cloud accounts when they infect a device. They exploit the synced connection to spread throughout the cloud account, encrypting those files as well and making them unreadable.
Just because data is stored in the cloud doesn’t mean it’s not susceptible to ransomware or other forms of malware.
Microsoft Says to Back Up Your Data in its Services
Outages can happen, and Microsoft says that users should be backing up data that’s stored in its services to ensure they don’t lose access to that data.
In the Microsoft Services Agreement, it states:
“In the event of an outage, you may not be able to retrieve Your Content or Data that you’ve stored. We recommend that you regularly backup Your Content and Data that you store on the Services or store usingThird-Party Apps and Services.”
Microsoft 365 Has Data Retention Policies That Can Expire
Users often get confused about the different data retention policies in Microsoft 365. There is an expiration date on things like emails, deleted data, and data from deleted users.
For example, when a user is deleted from your account, their emails, files, and any other associated data is automatically purged from the system in 30-days if you haven’t transferred ownership to another user.
Those retention policies mean that you may end up losing critical information that you needed to archive for legal or compliance reasons. If you haven’t backed up that information, it could be gone completely.
A backup of your Microsoft 365 data, means that you have a copy stored as long as you like and won’t have to worry about it being purged without your realizing it.
Put a Microsoft 365 Backup Plan in Place Today!
Connect2Geek can help your Treasure Valley area business keep your data protected whether it’s on devices or in your Microsoft Office 365 account.
Schedule a free cloud backup consultation today! Call 208-468-4323 or reach out online.