Many businesses assume that because their email and files are in Microsoft 365, Microsoft also takes care of backup. The short answer is that Microsoft protects the service. Protecting your data is mainly your responsibility.
What Microsoft does
Microsoft keeps data in multiple datacenters, so a failure in its own infrastructure doesn’t lose it. It also offers a recycle bin and retention periods that allow recent deletions to be restored.
What it doesn’t cover
Recycle bins and retention periods have limits. Once the retention period passes or someone empties the bin, the data is gone. The same can happen when ransomware encrypts files on a computer and OneDrive sync uploads them encrypted, or when the account of an employee who has left is deleted.
The shared responsibility model
Like all cloud providers, Microsoft follows a shared responsibility model: it is responsible for infrastructure and availability, you for your data, accounts and settings.
What we recommend
- Independent backup for Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, with Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 or Microsoft’s own Microsoft 365 Backup.
- Retention for as long as your policies and legal obligations require.
- Restore testing, so you know a mailbox or site can be restored when needed.
Protect your data in Microsoft 365
