Having trouble backing up your Microsoft 365 data? Here's why you should reconsider

Millions of businesses and individuals around the world utilise Microsoft's Office 365 services, yet the majority of these customers have not backed up their data. There is a prevalent belief that Microsoft is accountable for the data's accessibility because it is stored within the application. The truth is that if your data is not independently backed up, it is NOT protected against the threat of data loss and regulatory exposure exists.

Office 365 hosts your data, but it just maintains a replica. Office 365 features built-in data replication, allowing users to switch to the duplicated copy in the event of a problem. This is a replicated copy, reproduced by Microsoft, and not a backup. Not having a backup copy of your data is insufficient; a backup copy and a replicated copy are not the same. With a duplicated copy, all data is copied, regardless of whether it was deleted or corrupted, so you now possess a copy of both good and poor data. To ensure that your data is 100 percent secure, you need both a replica and a backup. Veeam, the global leader in Intelligent Data Management and a company trusted by 75% of Fortune 500 companies, recommends that all businesses have both a replica and a backup. Several firms have special regulations regarding the backup and retention of their data; if your organisation does not have its own backup, it risks failing to comply with these internal policies. Your firm risks losing control over and access to its data if it relies only on Microsoft for data maintenance and hosting. Microsoft safeguards the Office 365 infrastructure. They state that this security extends to the physical level of their data centres, the authentication and identity within their cloud services, and the Office 365 UI user and administrator controls. Hence, your business is accountable for data-level security. There are numerous data security threats that are not Microsoft's responsibility . There are numerous data security dangers, including insider threats (such as rogue administrators abusing access, inadvertent deletion, hostile insiders, etc.), ransomware, malicious applications, hackers, and more. In their paper, Veeam cites a video demonstrating how ransomware encrypts email to illustrate the ease with which ransomware may take control of cloud apps such as Office365. Without maintaining your own business data backup and security policies and procedures, you increase the likelihood of a security breach occurring and the loss of all data in the event of a security breach.

Microsoft's role is limited to data processing, while your business is the data owner. This has regulatory ramifications and will affect how you handle data. Depending on its sector, the sort of data it possesses, and its location, your organisation will be required to adhere to specific legal, HR, and compliance standards. This will dictate how you must store your data, the backups you must maintain, the security rules you must implement, etc.

In conclusion, if you do not have an external backup of your Office 365 data, you will have limited access and control over your data, you will be susceptible to data loss risks, internal and external security concerns, and regulatory exposure. Several of these problems can be avoided or mitigated by maintaining your own backups. By collaborating with a managed service provider like Cloud Carib, your firm can implement a secure and dependable backup solution that is fully connected with your Microsoft Office 365 applications. With a provider-managed backup, such as Cloud Carib, you can restore the data you need, when you need it, while fulfilling the needs of your stakeholders.