The business flexibility that Office 365 and G Suite provide is truly remarkable. They’re lifesaving solutions for employees who need to access, collaborate on, and share company files while they’re at work, at home, or on the go. And since data is stored in the cloud, employees no longer have to carry stacks of company documents wherever they go!
But as more businesses move to the these platforms, it’s important for them to acknowledge that some technology is imperfect (including Google’s and Microsoft’s) and that data is at risk if it’s stored in only one location.
So let’s take a look at the key reasons why your files may not be entirely safe in Office 365 and G Suite files.
Ransomware
Even advanced programs like Office 365 and G Suite are not immune to advanced strains of ransomware, a type of malicious software that encrypts a computer system and holds it hostage until the ransom is paid. This usually happens when offline syncing is enabled, a feature that allows you to store offline versions of your Office 365 and G Suite files and automatically upload any changes as soon as you have internet access.
If a file is compromised by ransomware during this process, the infection could spread to the cloud, which your colleagues may then download unknowingly into their own hard drives. This proves that while the collaborative aspects of Office 365 and G Suite are great for working off-site as a team, it can lead to corrupted files lurking in your cloud system.
99.9% is not 100%
What makes programs like Office 365 and G Suite so great is that they’re accessible anytime, anywhere once you log in. In fact, both guarantee 99.9% uptime, meaning you can depend on it 99.9% of the time. Still, as great as that statistic may sound, the 0.1% is something that shouldn’t be ignored, because when that 0.1% hits you — it hits you hard.
In the off chance Google or Microsoft suffered a system-wide outage, having no backups would mean your employees wouldn’t be able to access company files. And when that happened, hundreds of dollars would essentially go down the drain for each minute of downtime.
Self deletion
There’s no way of recovering lost data if you don’t have backups for your Office 365 or G Suite platform. For instance, users who are inactive for too long will get their files deleted permanently from Office 365 by Microsoft. In some cases, you yourself may delete files accidentally, and while these are stored for 30 days in the Recycle Bin, it is impossible to recover them afterwards.
Malicious intent
While online collaboration tools have numerous benefits to help colleagues work together, it also means that your critical files are easily accessed by a large group of people. Because of this, if someone on your team wishes to intentionally disrupt workflow, they can easily corrupt, delete and change any files they want to. On top of that, they may accidentally grant access to external hackers who can steal company-sensitive information or render your data useless with cloud malware.
Invest in business continuity
As you can see, although the cloud provides an exceptional platform for working and collaborating, no program is perfect. We’ve all been in a situation where something goes wrong and we lose critical files, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Installing third-party cloud backup and disaster recovery solutions ensures that your data can be recovered and your business can be saved. When you partner with a backup provider, your data is stored in your Office 365 or G Suite platform as well as geo-redundant and secure data centers. This means that if you lose your data due to ransomware or self-deletion, you can still recover backup files and keep your business running.
Here at Spectrumwise, we provide backup solutions to guarantee your business’s survival even after it’s experienced devastating data loss. Contact us today to keep your Office 365, G Suite, and company data alive.