Over 80% of deployed Microsoft 365 accounts have suffered an email breach and over 70% have suffered an account takeover. With downtime and data recovery being the most damaging costs of a breach, having a disaster recovery plan in place to quickly recover your data and ensure business continuity can significantly blunt the breach. In fact, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) strongly advises, “Backups are critical in ransomware recovery and response; if you are infected, a backup may be the best way to recover your critical data.” But, does Microsoft backup Office 365? Microsoft does offer some native “backup” and recovery options in terms of the Recycle Bin, archiving, retention policy, and eDiscovery. In this blog, we provide step-by-step instructions and videos to set up these four types of native Microsoft options to backup and recover Office 365. We also examine third-party backup options with a tabular comparison of native and third-party backup, to help you decide which is the best for your business.
Does Microsoft Backup Office 365? 4 Native Backup Options
#1 Native M365 Backup and Recovery Options: The Deleted Items Folder:
The most basic native Microsoft 365 data backup is the good ‘ol Deleted Items or Trash folder.
1. In your Outlook App, go to the Deleted Items or Trash folder
2. Right-click the item you want to recover
#2 Native M365 Backup and Recovery Options: eDiscovery
Another option to recover Litigation Hold items from your M365 account is by using eDiscovery. To do so, log in and go to the Exchange Admin Center. Once there, you will be able to download the data in PST format. Note: You must be a Global Admin, have “Discovery Management” permissions on Exchange Online, and be a part of the eDiscovery Manager role group in order to access this function.
Use the Content Search eDiscovery tool to search and find emails from mailboxes or public folders of Exchange Online. On locating the mailbox export this data to PST files.
Or create a “Case” and save your search criteria. You can then get search results under “eDiscovery/Standard” which will have the list of a;ll the saved cases.
#3 Native M365 Backup and Recovery Options: Archival
Microsoft offers options to “backup” Office 365 using Archival. Below are two methods to enable Microsoft 365 archiving.
Method 1: Archive Microsoft Office 365 Via The Compliance Center
Watch this video for step-wise instructions to setup archiving of Microsoft 365 data using the Compliance Center
Method 2: Archive Microsoft Office 365 Via PowerShell
Watch this video for step-wise instructions to setup archiving of Microsoft 365 data using the Compliance Center
#4 Native M365 Backup and Recovery Options: Retention Policy
Setting up a Microsoft 365 Retention label and policy is another native Microsoft “backup” option.
Method 1: Setup Microsoft 365 Retention Label and Policy Via The Compliance Center
Method 2: Setup Microsoft 365 Retention Label and Policy using PowerShell
Does Microsoft Backup Office 365? Comparison of Native Backup and Third-party Microsoft Backup
| Feature | Native Microsoft Office 365 Backup | Third Party Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | Manual and tedious backup and recovery. No data preview. Bulk backup and recovery. | Automated backup and recovery - set-it-and-forget-it. Backup data snapshots. Granular recovery at any level. |
| Recovery time objective (RTO) | High RTO, that is time required to recover your data after a breach/data loss incident. | Optimal RTO with ability to recover data with a few clicks. |
| Recovery Time Limit | Without a retention policy, recovery is limited to 14+30 days. Even with a retention policy, recovery is time-bound. | Unlimited point-in-time recovery from any point-in-time. No retention limits. |
| Ease of Business Continuity | As data is outdated and recovery is slow, the data recovered does not facilitate smooth business continuity. Downtime continues to be impacted. | Seamless business continuity as a true copy of data is recovered quickly for employees and customers to access. Minimized downtime. |
| Data Accuracy | Data is not a true copy and is not recovered "as-is". Site looks/themes, permission settings, etc. are lost. | Apart from the data being an accurate copy taken from a daily backup, all permissions, folder structures, etc. are maintained as-is. |
- There is NO point-in-time recovery
- You are limited to recovering items in the past 30 days (Deleted Items) + 14 days (Recoverable Items), unless a retention policy is set.
- Beyond this, your business-critical data is permanently deleted.
- Even with a retention policy, recovery is time-bound.
- Ease of Use: Backup and recovery is manual and tedious
- eDiscovery archives are manual, hold outdated data, and work only to restore entire mailboxes.
- Insider threats are the biggest contributors to cyberattacks. Legal hold can be mistakenly or maliciously turned off and retention periods can be manipulated.
- Litigation Hold is difficult to use and lacks basic granular search or cross-user restoration capabilities. The folder hierarchy is lost.
- Data is not a true copy and is not recovered “as-is”
- Calendar items, site looks/themes, and related settings are not retained in Exchange recovery.
- Similarly, membership permissions, sharing, and access permissions are not preserved for SharePoint/One Drive.
- For Teams/Groups chats are retained. However, chat attachments and Groups data not linked to SharePoint are not retained. No permissions, user membership, and metadata are secured with retention policies.
- “Backup” storage is costly
- Once you exceed Microsoft 365’s 11TB storage limit, the costs of retention really start to add up–especially if you’re using Retention policies as a backup. If you want to retain data for three years, for example, you’ll not only have to buy additional storage but also upgrade your license to the most expensive Enterprise plan.
- Outdated data, cumbersome recovery, and time-bound limits, ultimately go against the point of having a backup in the first place–to be able to quickly get lost data back.
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