Many organisations in East Africa have moved their email and files to Microsoft 365, and for good reason: it is reliable, secure and available from anywhere. But a common belief is that “Microsoft backs up everything for us”. That is only partly true. Microsoft keeps the service running and protects its data centres. Protecting your own data from deletion, ransomware or a departing employee is your responsibility.
The Shared Responsibility Model
Microsoft is responsible for the infrastructure: servers, data centres, power, and keeping Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams available. Your organisation is responsible for the data inside them: who can access it, what happens when it is deleted, and how long it is kept. Microsoft’s own service agreement recommends that customers use third-party backup for their content.
What Can Go Wrong
- A user deletes an important folder or mailbox, and nobody notices until the recycle bin has been emptied.
- Ransomware on a laptop syncs encrypted files into OneDrive and SharePoint.
- A staff member leaves, their licence is removed, and their mailbox and OneDrive are deleted after the retention period.
- An administrator makes a mistake, or an attacker with admin access deletes data on purpose.
- An audit, donor or court asks for records from several years ago that were never kept.
Built-in features such as the recycle bin, version history and retention policies help, but they are time-limited and are not a separate copy of your data. If the account itself is compromised, those features can be affected too.
How to Protect Your Microsoft 365 Data
Step 1: Decide what needs protecting
List the mailboxes, OneDrive accounts, SharePoint sites and Teams that hold critical information, such as finance, HR, management and project records. Decide how far back you need to be able to restore.
Step 2: Use a dedicated Microsoft 365 backup service
A proper backup tool makes an independent copy of Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data outside your Microsoft 365 tenant, on a schedule, and lets you restore a single email, a file or a whole mailbox in minutes.
Step 3: Make backups immutable
Choose a backup that stores copies in a form that cannot be changed or deleted for a set period. Even an attacker with administrator access then cannot destroy your backups.
Step 4: Secure admin accounts
Protect every Microsoft 365 administrator and backup console account with multi-factor authentication, and keep the number of global administrators small.
Step 5: Keep former staff data
Before removing a licence from a departing employee, make sure their mailbox and files are backed up or converted to a shared mailbox, so nothing important is lost.
Step 6: Test restores
Restore a sample of emails and files every month. A backup that has never been tested is only a hope.
Quick Microsoft 365 Backup Checklist
- Critical mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams identified
- Independent, scheduled backup of Microsoft 365 data in place
- At least one immutable copy that cannot be deleted
- Multi-factor authentication on all admin accounts
- A clear process for staff who leave
- Monthly restore tests, with results recorded
How Junubia Host Can Help
As a Microsoft partner with offices in Juba, Dar es Salaam and Kigali, Junubia Host sets up and supports Microsoft 365 for banks, government institutions, NGOs and businesses. We help you secure your tenant, plan retention and put a reliable backup in place for email, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. Learn more about our Microsoft 365 services.
Not Sure If Your Data Is Protected?
Book a free IT assessment and we will review how your Microsoft 365 data is protected today. You can also reach us on WhatsApp: +211 924 786 666 (South Sudan) or +255 768 404 666 (Tanzania and Rwanda).
Written by Dut Majak, CEO and Founder of Junubia Host Co Ltd. Dut leads Junubia’s work with banks, government institutions, NGOs and businesses across South Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda.
