Yes, Here’s Why
Many people take backup for granted when using Office 365. They think Microsoft must surely be thoroughly protecting the data on Office 365 – I don’t have to worry about it! Think again.
Office 365 lacks the daily backup and archiving capability that may be needed after data is automatically removed and deleted from the recycle bin, or if a user intentionally deletes their data!
Let’s Take a Look at a Few Possibilities
Deletions
Maybe it’s accidental, maybe it’s purposeful, maybe it’s malicious, but users delete data. Office 365 has a default retention of 14 days, but can be expanded to 30. After that, the data is gone. Intentional deletions (and deleting from the recycle bin) are unrecoverable. Also, if a user account is deleted – the data is gone.
Ransomware/Malware
While Microsoft does have anti-malware protections in place, it does not guarantee that a user does not corrupt their data if infected by malware/ransomware. Recovery from this scenario could be very painful and time consuming if just using built-in data protection measures, and ultimately there is no guarantee of recovery.
Liability
Microsoft contracts have strict limits on liability. In the case of Office 365 the liability is limited to $5000 total. It would cost more to walk into court, so effectively this is the same as no liability of your data.
Compliance
If you have strict compliance requirements (like keeping backups for 7, 10 or more years) then Microsoft is not providing what you require for data protection. Even private companies without legal obligations often have lengthy retention policies. Even requiring more than 1 month of history may exceed what Microsoft is providing you.
Industry Analysts Recommend Backup
Organzations such as Gartner, Forrester, ESG and others recommend that clients review their own backup data retention requirements and determine if additional Office 365 backup solutions are needed to meet your objectives.
Recommendation
Ensure you can always easily recover your critical Office 365 emails, files and Sharepoint sites by using a 3rd party backup tool to backup Office 365 data.
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