When legitimate admin actions erase business-critical email data overnight.
Dec 17,
2025
The Environment (Before)
The organization relied on a standard setup common among many SMEs:
Platform:Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online)
Users:85 Employees
Protection:Native retention policies enabled
Gap:No third-party backup in place
The Incident
Disaster struck without a single warning bell.
The Trigger:Mailbox deletions were executed via legitimate Global Admin actions.
The Stealth:Because the credentials were valid, there was no ransomware and no alerts. It looked like
"business as usual" to the system.
The Damage:85 mailboxes were emptied overnight. Critical emails and folder structures vanished.
The Wall:Microsoft support confirmed that due to the "admin-initiated purge," native recovery could
not be guaranteed.
The Solution
To survive the crisis and secure the future, they deployed Dropsuite Email Backup. Instead of relying on
Microsoft’s retention (which failed to stop the purge),
they created an immutable, independent copy of their data.
Current Tech Stack
The secure setup protecting these 85 users today:
Primary Platform: Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online)
Data Protection:Dropsuite Email Backup (Tenant-wide)
Storage Location:Independent Cloud (Separate from Microsoft)
Recovery Capability:Granular restore (Files, Folders, or Full Mailbox)
The Result
100% Data Restored:All emails, metadata, and folder hierarchies were recovered.
Business Continuity:Operations resumed without waiting on Microsoft SLAs.
Audit Ready:The firm now meets Bahrain’s strict financial data compliance standards.
Microsoft 365 protects the platform. You must protect the data.
Legitimate admin credentials can do just as much damage as a hacker. Be ready.
