Big Cloud Providers Became Essential for Many Small and Medium Businesses

Especially large general cloud providers have become an essential part of the IT environments of many small and medium-sized businesses. The Redmond-based giant Microsoft successfully expanded the already impressive accessibility of Exchange Server within the Microsoft 365 package with Exchange Online for email communications. The latest global attack on internal Exchange Servers only added momentum to the big shift to the cloud (and thus generally to Microsoft 365). Microsoft has a competitor in Google Workspace, formerly known as Google G Suite, which is increasingly preferred by a growing number of companies.

Data in the Cloud Is Not Automatically Secure

The fire that broke out in the OVHcloud data center in Strasbourg this March was heavily covered in the IT media. Data belonging to many customers was lost irreversibly. However, what is the connection between this event and the services offered by Microsoft and Google?

The principle is the same - as a customer, you are responsible for protecting your data from being lost. Known as the Shared Responsibility Model, this is now a feature of the terms and conditions of most cloud providers. Therefore, backing up your emails, data, and even applications is generally your responsibility. Many companies are not aware of this reality, and some even choose to ignore it. As in the case of the fire at OVHcloud, a complete loss can lead to dramatic consequences. In addition to the massive loss of information stored in emails, which has likely been accumulating for many years - I don't even mention the potential impact on employee productivity (lost emails, inability to use email servers, etc.) - there may also be legal consequences.

In other words, relatively abstract concepts such as Business Continuity gain a completely new meaning in such situations. In the worst-case scenario, your company's operations may need to be completely suspended; in many cases, it may not even be clear when business can resume. Systems will need to be completely restructured, and many data assets may not be recoverable at all.

When it comes to business emails, you should particularly consider the following three points:

• Take responsibility for your data In most cases (depending on the terms of your service or contract), backing up and archiving your data is your responsibility, not that of the cloud provider. Furthermore, as a user of the cloud service, you are responsible for data privacy laws that may apply.
• Protect yourself against data loss Create a disaster recovery plan for your critical data and applications. Emails should always be archived - not only for compliance reasons. A reliable archiving and backup strategy is the cornerstone of any IT business continuity plan.
• Maintain your independence Today, the cloud is an essential part of the IT strategy for most companies. However, do not become dependent on a single provider. Incidentally, a cloud provider will usually point out that the customer is responsible for backing up their own "data." Your data is your capital!

"Small and medium-sized businesses should have strong backup and archiving capabilities to protect, preserve, and keep their critical data assets usable."

Michael Osterman, Osterman Research Inc.

Market researchers at Osterman Research Inc. prepared a technical analysis explaining how small and medium-sized businesses using Microsoft 365 or considering moving their internal Exchange Servers to the cloud and Microsoft 365 can sufficiently protect their business email communications. In the technical analysis, it is examined which features your company needs and in which scenarios a third-party solution such as MailStore Server may serve your business better than the local archiving options available in Microsoft 365.

Source: Why Are Emails Not Automatically Secure in the Cloud? (mailstore.com)