Microsoft 365 and Google won’t back up your data
Cloud providers keep the service running. Deleted, encrypted or overwritten files are mostly your problem.
A common belief: “It’s in the cloud, so it’s backed up.” The provider keeps its service running and won’t lose your data to a broken disk. But if a user deletes a folder, ransomware encrypts synced files, or an attacker wipes a mailbox, the built-in recycle bins and version history only go back so far, usually a few weeks.
After that, it’s gone.
- Check your retention settings in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Know how long deleted items really stay.
- For important data, use a third-party backup service that copies mail, OneDrive or Drive, SharePoint and Teams to a separate place.
- Make sure the backup can’t be deleted with the same admin account that runs the tenant.
- Test a restore: one mailbox, one shared folder. Time how long it takes.
The same applies to CRMs, accounting tools and source code platforms. Ask each one: if we deleted everything today, how would we get it back?