There is no doubt that most organizations have started using Office 365 because it provides a dynamic and collaborative workplace ensuring security and compliance. But, an organization should never rely on Office 365 native security features entirely as data can be lost in different ways. So, a regular backup of your data is necessary.

1- Office 365 Mailbox Backup Plan Part-1
2- Office 365 Mailbox Backup Plan Part-2

Why Office 365 Backup?

Many organizations often think that data created and stored on cloud platforms like Office 365 doesn’t need to be backed up, but this isn’t true. Several reasons make Office 365 backup vital:

• Deleting a user mailbox or data accidentally.
• Internal or external security threats which can damage your data, such as malware, viruses, and hackers.
• Office 365 downtime.
• Ensuring business continuity in case of data loss from Microsoft data centers.
• Legal and compliance requirements.

Office 365 Backup – Best Practices

In this article, we’ll talk about different aspects of Office 365 backup, such as risks associated with Office 365, the methods to backup Office 365, the requirements of Office 365 backup, retention policies of Microsoft, etc.

Assessing the Risks Associated with Office 365 Cloud

Migrating to a cloud platform like Office 365 is a wise decision, but it is not that easy. There are several risks involved, such as:

• Data Loss

  It is one of the major concerns for Office 365 users as Microsoft’s backup policies doesn’t guarantee a complete restore of lost data. Even if the data is retrievable, the process will be complicated and time-consuming.

• Multi-Layered Protection Issue

  With on-premises Exchange, users have the choice to provide multi-layered security to their email data. But, with Office 365, users get only a single-layered approach to filter malicious emails and files.

• Limited Protection

  Exchange Online can deal with a number of security risks, such as spam or malware. But, when it comes to protect your data against highly-targeted phishing and whaling attacks, or malicious links, Exchange Online doesn’t offer sufficient protection.

Microsoft Policies for Office 365 Backup

If you’re planning to back up your Office 365, then there are some policies that Microsoft follows for Office 365 backup.

• Retention Policy for Deleted Items Folder

  This policy defines that the deleted items can be saved only for 30 days. However, this policy can be changed according to the user needs. The administrator can change these settings by modifying the default MRM policy.

• Retrieving Permanently Deleted Items from Office 365

  Only Office 365 global administrators, who have eDiscovery permissions have the rights to retrieve permanently deleted items from the user’s mailboxes. It will take around 20-30 minutes to recover items from Exchange Online mailbox.

• Retention Policy for Items in Recoverable Items Folder

  According to Microsoft’s retention policy for recoverable items, the user can search deleted items in MS Outlook for 14 days by default. You can save emails for an unlimited period if the administrator has enabled the Litigation Hold.

Things You Need to Know before Backing Up Office 365

Many organizations often ignore the simple concepts which are necessary to know, such as:

• Microsoft doesn’t protect your data from human errors like malicious activity or malware.
• If you deactivate a user account in Office 365, you’ll lose access to the files created by that user. And paying for the licenses of terminated employees continuously can cost you a fortune.
• Ensure that the backup solution you choose should have the ability to restore data as per your requirements.

Conclusion

You have seen different aspects of Office 365 backup, such as its implementation, risk involved in Office 365 migration, retention policies of Microsoft regarding backup, etc. Now, let’s take it further and switch to Part-2 to learn about how to backup Office 365 mailboxes.