January 17, 2024 | By Ryan Felkel
As of 2023, Microsoft Office 365 is utilized by over a million companies globally, according to a recent Statista report. It has become an indispensable tool for organizations as they adapt to hybrid workforces and a global economy, leveraging its collaborative power and the need for a robust data protection strategy. At the core of Microsoft 365’s security framework lies the Shared Responsibility Model, delineating the responsibilities of Microsoft and organizations using their services. Understanding this model is imperative for securing and protecting your organization’s data within the Microsoft 365 environment.
Understanding the Microsoft 365 Shared Responsibility Model
Consider the Microsoft Shared Responsibility Model as a guide to help you understand the components and tasks your IT team is responsible for in your organization’s IT environment. At a high level, Microsoft is responsible for securing the services they provide you—the customer—and you are responsible for securing your organization’s data and applications. So, what does that mean?
Microsoft’s Role in Security and Compliance
Microsoft provides a range of measures to safeguard the integrity and availability of Microsoft 365 and your organization’s data. Here’s a summary of Microsoft’s key responsibilities:
- Uptime Guarantee: Microsoft commits to maximum uptime for the infrastructure and software supporting Microsoft 365.
- Data Replication: Microsoft employs data replication across multiple locations to enhance data availability and reliability. However, Microsoft’s data replication does not protect against accidental user data deletion, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive backup strategy.
- Setup and Management: Microsoft takes responsibility for configuring and managing the infrastructure hosting Microsoft 365. This includes protection against various potential disruptions, such as electrical failures, natural disasters, physical threats, and other issues that could impact service availability.
- Access Control: Microsoft provides robust access controls, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) alongside traditional password-based authentication, strengthening the security posture of Microsoft 365.
Customer’s Role in the Shared Responsibility Model
Ultimately, customers play a crucial role in safeguarding their data in Microsoft’s Shared Responsibility Model. Here’s a condensed overview of the customer’s role:
- Guarding Against Internal and External Threats: Customers are tasked with safeguarding their data from intentional deletions by employees and external threats such as ransomware attacks.
- Mitigating Accidental Data Deletion: Microsoft 365 does have a recycling bin for accidental data loss prevention, but it is limited and temporary storage.
- Meeting Data Retention Requirements: Customers are responsible for aligning their data retention policies with laws and internal company guidelines.
- Ensuring Regulatory Compliance: Customers are responsible for managing sensitive data in accordance with regulatory policies.
While Microsoft manages the infrastructure, it doesn’t absolve you of the responsibility to back up essential Microsoft 365 data crucial for your business. And as you can see, the Microsoft Shared Responsibility Model puts a lot of onus on the customer and their internal IT organization for compliance and maintaining a resilient security posture.
Protect Your Microsoft 365 Data with Veeam
To help organizations overcome this gap between their responsibility and Microsoft’s, Veeam created a data backup solution specific for Microsoft 365. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 provides organizations with the ability to back up their Microsoft 365 data on-premise or in cloud object storage such as AWS and Wasabi. Benefits of Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 include:
- Safeguarding of Critical Data: Veeam backups protect against accidental data deletion and cybersecurity threats.
- Data Recovery: In the event of data loss, Veeam allows your organization to quickly restore its Microsoft 365 data with flexible options allowing for granular recovery and bulk recovery to restore multiple users in a single operation.
- Improved Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs): Veeam ensures your Microsoft 365 data is compliant with your organization’s BCDR procedures and policies.
- Maintain Compliance: Stay in compliance with eDiscovery, a powerful search and find tool with capabilities to quickly access documents for regulatory and legal requirements.
Best Practices for Using Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365
Ensuring your organization is getting the maximum benefit of Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, it is imperative to follow best practices. Here are a few to consider:
- Maintain Regular Backups: Establish a regular backup schedule to ensure frequent updates of your Microsoft 365 data.
- Utilize Granular Backup: Take advantage of Veeam’s granular backup capabilities to selectively back up specific data, allowing for more efficient data management and recovery.
- Implement a Disaster Recovery (DR) Strategy: Regularly validate your backup data to ensure its accuracy and reliability in case of restoration, define and enforce retention policies, and create a DR Runbook that includes recovery process documentation and processes.
- Enhance Security Measures: Implement robust security measures, including encryption, to safeguard your backed-up data against unauthorized access, and enable MFA.
- Setup Monitoring and Alerts: Utilize Observr to monitor and alert IT personnel with notifications of any anomalies or issues related to the backup process.
- Automated Backup Jobs: Automate backup jobs to streamline the process and reduce the risk of human error.
In implementing best practices for backing up Microsoft 365 using Veeam, organizations can fortify their data resilience, ensuring a robust and secure foundation for business continuity and rapid recovery.
Secure Your Organization’s Microsoft 365 Data
When disaster strikes, is your company prepared? If you have read this far, then there’s a good chance you might have some concern that your organization may not be doing your share of the Microsoft Shared Responsibility Model. No problem, Opti9 is here to help! Contact us for a complimentary evaluation of your current Microsoft 365 backup and recovery strategy.
