5 Costly Data Protection Gaps in Microsoft 365 and How to Close Them
Microsoft 365 offers great application access but lacks recovery and backup capabilities. Microsoft themselves recommend using a 3rd-party application for data backups.
Many people mistakenly believe Microsoft provides complete data protection, but all data loss loss issues aren’t covered, such as accidental deletion. This gap can leave businesses and individuals in a vulnerable state despite Microsoft’s partial restoration features.
5 costly Data Protection Gaps
1
Accidental Deletion
Employees often delete Microsoft 365 user profiles or emails for Business files and content for Teams or Sharepoint. These deletions, accidental or intentional, could lead to the loss of crucial client data.
Microsoft Weakness
Routine deletions of resources are typically synchronised across the network. Newer deletions are less concerning because they can often be restored from the Recycle Bin or Recoverable Items folder. However, older data is frequently permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
Retention Policy Issues
Changing or misaligned M365 data retention policies can lead to permanent data loss. Updating and reviewing these policies regularly can only partially mitigate this risk.
Microsoft Weakness
If you don’t outsource to a managed service provider, the responsibility for managing retention policies falls on your shoulders. In the unfortunate event of a hard deletion due to an expired policy, Microsoft cannot recover the deleted resource.
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Legal Issues
Compliance and legal issues have the potential to escalate business costs due to unprotected data losses. When M365 data loss becomes unrecoverable, it can have various consequences, including regulatory fines, legal penalties, revenue and stock price declines, erosion of customer trust, and harm to the company’s brand reputation
Microsoft Weakness
Despite the risks, Microsoft provides limited protection for Microsoft 365 users concerning compliance and legal matters. For instance, after a ransomware attack, a business that stores E.U. customer data in SharePoint Online could potentially violate GDPR if it cannot provide copies of that data.
4
Internal Threats
Ensuring the protection of your M365 data and resources against intentional harm or destruction by disgruntled or terminated employees, contractors, or partners is of utmost importance.
Microsoft Weakness
Aside from recently deleted data, Microsoft does not provide protection against intentional harm or alterations to M365 data by insiders
5
Migration from Premise Based Microsoft Office
When transitioning from a traditional on-premises Microsoft application suite to cloud-based M365, you often move from an older data protection system to a new, cloud-ready one. Unfortunately, these backup solutions frequently lack compatibility, making it challenging to seamlessly restore old data within the new setup.
Microsoft Weakness
When migrating from Office to M365, Microsoft does not directly address data loss concerns. Additionally, third-party solutions typically offer backup for either Office or M365, but not both simultaneously.
While Microsoft provides infrastructure resilience, it is essential to take responsibility for protecting your data when using Microsoft OneNote, Teams, OneDrive, or SharePoint. Third-party backup solutions offer fast backups, reliable recovery, and flexible restore options, helping prevent downtime and data loss to ensure your business runs smoothly.