Why Third-Party Backup Is a Must With Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace?

INTRODUCTION

Contrary to a common misconception, Microsoft and Google do not automatically back up all user data. While they do provide some redundancy for data protection against hardware failures, natural disasters, and infrastructure issues, they lack native mechanisms to adequately safeguard against user error, malicious behaviour, or software faults.

As a result, relying on third-party backup solutions becomes the optimal choice to ensure comprehensive data protection in scenarios where important files are accidentally deleted, cyber-attacks occur, or software-related data loss is experienced.

CHALLENGES

1-???Backing up Mailboxes

For Outlook, Microsoft's default data retention policy is only 30 days. After this point, the data is irrevocably lost, making point-in-time restoration of mailbox items impossible for the Exchange Online service.

The Exchange Online service does not support point-in-time mailbox item restoration, while there may be third-party solutions available that do. You can extend the default data retention policy, but it will cost additional Microsoft licences over and beyond what third-party mailbox backup costs, and it still does not give point-in-time recovery or the ability to retrieve data in its original structure.

The internal backup solution in SharePoint and OneDrive allows you to restore the entire state of the drive or SharePoint site to a specific point in time within the 30-day window. If you need to restore something from, for example, 10 days ago, you will need to restore the entire SharePoint site or Drive to that specific restore point. This means that any changes made after the chosen restore point will be lost.

2-???Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace Data Recovery

It is hard to view what a certain folder looked like three days ago and what objects were in it, let alone 31 days ago. While specific objects can be recovered if you know what they are called and who they belong to, this is only possible for up to 30 days (25 in the case of Google).

The default backup solution does not provide granular file-level restoration. This means that if you only need to restore specific files or folders, it can be inconvenient because you have to restore the entire SharePoint site or Drive, resulting in potential data loss for other files or changes.

Library items in SharePoint and OneDrive have full version history by default. If a file is missing or someone has intentionally removed the previous versions, your only alternative is to search the logs for it in unstructured data in the recycle bin.

It is totally irreversible once it has been removed from the recycle bin (you will have 90 days, or around 3 months, to do so).

Problem:

A client contacted with Lucidica team, when they discovered that a crucial folder in Sharepoint had been accidentally deleted. However, the folder had been deleted over 30 days ago, exceeding the retention period of Sharepoint and Google Drive's recycle bins. This posed a significant challenge as native backup options provided by Sharepoint and OneDrive only stored file versions for 30 days. Restoring files from a specific point in time required the entire restoration of the Sharepoint site or Drive, resulting in the loss of any changes made after the chosen restore point.

Solution:

To address the limitations of native backup options and ensure comprehensive data protection, our client decided to integrate a third-party backup solution specifically designed for Sharepoint. This solution offered daily backups of all cloud files in Sharepoint, preventing data loss from accidental deletions and user errors. The backup solution also extended the retention period to six months, allowing for the recovery of files even if they had been deleted more than 30 days ago. In addition, our team configured the backup solution to prioritise critical Sharepoint sites, enabling backups to be retained for 12 months in those specific areas. By implementing this third-party backup solution, the client achieved reliable data protection, streamlined restoration processes, and minimised the risk of permanent data loss in their Sharepoint environment.

Lucidica’s Approach to Data Protection with Third-Party Solutions

Third-party backup solutions offer businesses extensive data protection and backup functionalities, enabling data recovery even in cases where it has been deleted or compromised by a ransomware attack. The solutions being referred to provide businesses with the ability to perform real-time or scheduled backups, store data off-site, and restore data to specific points in time. Additionally, these solutions offer granular restore capabilities, allowing businesses to restore specific files, folders, or emails as needed.

At Lucidica, we have implemented a comprehensive data protection policy that involves utilising a third-party product to backup all of our cloud-based data. In accordance with this policy, any data that is no longer required is promptly deleted. In the event of accidental data corruption or deletion, it is possible to recover the affected data without impacting the currently active data.

Furthermore, third-party backup solutions offer boundless data retention, enabling enterprises to preserve data for an indefinite period, granting them the capability to view the contents of a specific folder even up to three days prior. Third-party backup solutions offer a notable advantage in that they afford full control and ownership of data. This contrasts with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, where data control and ownership are shared between the cloud provider and the business.

By utilising third-party backup solutions, businesses are able to establish retention policies, access controls, and encryption settings for their backup data. This results in a thorough approach to data protection. By adopting a thorough backup plan that incorporates third-party backup solutions, enterprises can safeguard their data and promptly restore it in the event of data loss occurrences, irrespective of the underlying reason.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DISCUSS YOUR BACKUP & DATA RECOVERY OPTIONS?

If you're interested in learning more about third-party backup solutions and how they can benefit your organisation, you can book a call with Lucidica or submit form to discuss your data recovery and backup options.