As we discussed in a previous post, there remains widespread confusion about the cloud’s “shared responsibility” security model. Major cloud service providers such as Microsoft and Google have strong measures in place to protect their platforms, but their customers are responsible for securing their data within these cloud environments.
That distinction is becoming critically important as companies move more workloads into the cloud through the use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. Recent studies find that nearly three-quarters of U.S. businesses are using SaaS, yet more than a third never back up their cloud data. Most are under the mistaken impression that the provider is protecting their data. Unsurprisingly, more than half report they have experienced data loss.
Another misconception is that a company’s on-premises backup infrastructure will protect its SaaS data. That’s almost never true because SaaS data rarely touches onsite servers. When working with SaaS apps, users are usually entering data directly into the cloud platform through a web browser.
Datto SaaS Protection
In this recent webinar, our data protection pros offer some clarity on the shared responsibility model and provided suggestions for mitigating cloud risks. In particular, we describe how we leverage the Datto SaaS Protection solution to provide managed cloud backup services for our customers.
With Datto SaaS Protection, we can create a robust cloud backup solution built on the 3-2-1 backup strategy — three copies of your data on two different storage media with one of them located offsite. The Datto solution enables this approach by storing data in a private cloud that is purpose-built for backing up and recovering data.
This is in marked contrast to the native data protection offered by cloud service providers. In truth, provider tools offer only limited protection. Microsoft, for example, will retain Office 365 customer data for 90 days before deleting it for good. It isn’t a full backup, there’s no secondary copy at another site and there’s no point-in-time recovery capabilities.
Additionally, native tools offer virtually no protection against ransomware attacks that encrypt your cloud data. Although there’s a common misconception that data in the cloud is safe from such attacks, that is far from the truth. Ransomware can easily spread to O365 or G Suite data via email or through Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive syncing clients. According to a recent Aberdeen study, 28 percent of managed services providers (MSPs) have seen ransomware attacks in SaaS applications.
Data Protection Benefits
Using Datto SaaS Protection to create full backups with multiple copies, Verteks can protect O365 and G Suite customers against ransomware, accidental or malicious deletion, misconfiguration, and many other forms of data loss. With three automated backups each day, customizable data retention periods and point-in-time restoration, SaaS Protection also helps customers meet their business continuity and compliance requirements.
Specifically, the Datto solution provides safeguards for the following SaaS apps:
- O365
- Exchange
- Tasks
- OneDrive
- SharePoint
- Teams
- G Suite
- GMail
- Calendar
- Contacts
Most customers are surprised to learn that a managed backup service with Datto SaaS Protection can help save money in a variety of ways. As with all managed services, it eliminates the need to manage and maintain hardware and it frees IT staff to work on more strategic initiatives. It also eliminates unnecessary O365 or G Suite license fees for departed employees by storing their SaaS data in Datto’s private cloud.
As we continue to shift toward a work-from-home world, organizations will become increasingly dependent on SaaS applications, including productivity suites such as O365 and G Suite. However, this shift requires organizations to ensure they have adequate data protection capabilities in place. Let us show you how we can manage your cloud data protection to mitigate risk and drive increased productivity.
