Do you really need to back up your cloud? Cloud-to-cloud for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

Many people think cloud services such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace don't need backup. After all, the data is stored by tech giants. This is a dangerous misconception, because a careful reading of the contracts reveals that Microsoft and Google disclaim responsibility in the event of data loss, leaving it up to you to back it up yourself.

Don't confuse synchronization with backup

A common mistake is to confuse data synchronization with true backup. Synchronization services, such as OneDrive or Google Drive, replicate data across several devices. This is useful in the event of hardware failure, but they do not protect against the following risks:

  • Accidental deletion: If you delete a file from your hard drive, it will automatically be deleted from all your synchronized devices and from the cloud versions.
  • Data loss from a deleted account: If you deactivate an employee's account, their personal data is deleted, including email archives that may be needed for legal or business reasons.
  • Limited retention: Cloud services often offer a short retention period (sometimes 30 days), which is not enough given the average time it takes to detect an intrusion (197 days).
  • Responsibility: Your cloud provider can suffer incidents and offers no guarantee that your data will be restored. In principle, it is your responsibility as a business to have a disaster recovery plan (DRP).

Cloud-to-cloud: the solution for true backup

The best approach is to adopt an offsite backup solution that is independent of your cloud provider, using a method called cloud-to-cloud. This technique allows an external application to connect to your Microsoft "tenant" or your Google Workspace environment via APIs.

The benefits are clear:

  • No bandwidth consumed: Data is transferred directly from cloud to cloud, without going through your local infrastructure.
  • Simplified management: Just schedule the backup and everything happens automatically on our side.
  • Enhanced security: Data is stored in a secondary cloud, protecting you from failures at your main provider.

Kiwi Backup has chosen to request read-only permissions, preventing any writing or destruction of data in your original cloud space in the event of a security problem on its side. If you want to restore data, you do so from the Kiwi Backup software interface.

It is also crucial to back up in an open format to ensure data reversibility. Google's proprietary formats, for example, cannot be used outside its ecosystem. Kiwi Backup offers to convert these files into standard formats, such as .docx, during backup. Likewise, emails are backed up in the standard EML format, which contains all header information.