Data Security - The Common Misconceptions of O365

As the world's leading productivity app suite, investing in Office365 is an astute decision. The upside for security conscious organizations from corporate companies through to the Government is software that lets you get on with the job without having to worry about maintaining it. 
 
Since many software giants dependably take the complexity out of managing your instances for you, businesses often believe that their data backup is taken care of along with infrastructure and data security. 
  
Unfortunately, this is an all too common misconception. While it’s true that Microsoft handles the infrastructure that supports its productivity suite, you are responsible for your own data. They’ve intentionally put data integrity into your hands, while they focus on managing your infrastructure. 
 
And research shows that approximately 76% of Microsoft Office data is not being backed up. 
 
O365 natively supports an ample list of scenarios where critical data loss is potentially devastating. But there are still several ways for your data to fall through the cracks. Finding a solution to prevent these scenarios is an important step to making the best out of your company wide investment in O365. 
 
Let's discuss just four common scenarios you may not have thought about that impact the integrity of data across business every day.

Security breaches

Let’s start with the most obvious and 'panic-worthy’ scenario. Your organization may not seem to be of particular interest to malevolent web forces, but it is still worth considering how you would respond if a malicious individual or group gained access to your data. And worse still, began deleting it. How would you continue BAU if you were unable to access back ups of years worth of documents and emails? A loss of data due to an intentional breach would not just be a blow for you. It could in turn expose your customers as well.

Not to mention the statistics on internal breaches. Some 87% of employees who leave a job take data they created there, and 28% take data others created. Whether this is unintentional or not, it’s a serious risk to your company, since the recovery of any data due to attacks is not guaranteed without back ups. 

Business continuity through employee turnover 

Losing employees is costly. And this is before we even factor in data loss associated with turnover. 
 
Let’s face it. We all have good intentions when it comes to best practice in information management. But time and time again we realize just days after the handover of a departed staff member that something is missing. This can be particularly frustrating when that employee's accounts are deactivated. You may end up in an endless loop of resetting passwords and trolling emails to recover the information that you need. 
 
Being able to access a reliable source of back ups ensures business continuity, and minimizes the financial impact of employee turnover. 

The legal stuff

You can’t afford to lose any of the data you’ve collected or documentation your company has created. It represents an amount of time and effort that would be costly or impossible to replicate.  
 
If you are a business owner or IT manager you are probably aware of the obligations that apply to the data you own. Your customer contracts may include terms that cover the security of their data, and you likely have a litany of different types of obligations to government or standards bodies to adhere to as well. Making sure your data is properly backed up will save you major headaches down the track, and help you avoid any penalties that go with them. 

Unintentional data deletion is another hazard known to content that hasn’t been properly backed up. Some research suggests human error is responsible for a whopping 30% of data loss. Although you might notice the deletion and be able to fish it out of the recycling bin, further research shows that it takes an average of 140 days for anyone to notice a document is missing. And how many times have you emptied your bin in the last four months? While O365 will natively retain data for up to 93 days, that might not be enough.   

There is a solution

When we are aware of a problem, we are in the best place to mitigate the challenge. There is no need to run the risk - there’s a simple solution. By integrating a private cloud backup solution such as CloudMetro with your O365 instance, you’ll be investing in an ‘insurance policy’. While Microsoft keeps your productivity suite running seamlessly, you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing no matter the hiccup, your data is safely backed up in the cloud. 
 
To find out how we can help you with data back-up, contact us today.