Why your business needs Microsoft 365 protection
Microsoft 365 is hugely popular in the business community, offering a powerful, cloud-based productivity suite used by millions of organisations worldwide — yet a common and potentially costly misconception is that Microsoft 365 automatically backs up all data and provides complete protection by default. Put simply, Microsoft 365 is not backup.
In reality, this over-reliance on Microsoft’s native settings can leave critical gaps in your security posture, and the platform is not immune to cyber risks.
In 2025 and beyond, we expect those risks to only grow more dangerous.
At first glance, Microsoft 365 appears to deliver strong built-in security, with features such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), anti-phishing, anti-malware, encryption, access management, and endpoint protections included as standard. However, these tools focus primarily on platform security and availability – not full data backup, long-term retention, or rapid recovery from cyber incidents.
Many businesses consider this baseline good enough, but in reality, these native controls form only the foundation of security — not a comprehensive online shield against ransomware, accidental deletion, insider threats, or data loss.
Here’s the low down on Microsoft 365 security and why your business needs more protection.
Why is extra protection for Microsoft 365 important?
One major reason why businesses need to add extra security layers to their Microsoft 365 suites is the rise of sophisticated threats.
According to a recent industry overview by Microsoft itself, over half of cyber-incidents investigated by the cloud’s vendor last year were driven by extortion or ransomware.
- Attackers increasingly exploit compromised credentials, weak authentication, or misconfigurations to gain admin-level access even when tools like MFA are available.
- Once inside, attackers can leverage cloud-native access, shared collaboration tools and storage (like email, file sharing, and collaboration platforms) to move laterally, exfiltrate or encrypt data, and even lock out legitimate users.
Although Microsoft 365 includes features like versioning and recycle-bin recovery, these are often inadequate for large-scale ransomware or insider-driven destruction and may not provide all the features that allow enterprises to recover fully from a cyberattack.
User behaviour remains a persistent weak spot
Recent news reports reveal that over 80% of Microsoft users have had their emails compromised. This could be the entry point for cybercriminals to access your network and do severe financial and reputational damage to your business.
No matter how much built in security a software package offers, the risk of human error is always present – especially when cybercriminals prey on it.
Phishing emails, unsafe third-party app integrations, forgotten or stale user accounts, and misconfigured permissions can all leave doors wide open.
- Many organisations mistakenly assume that all data stored in the cloud is safe while overlooking the shared-responsibility model:
- While Microsoft secures the infrastructure, you are responsible for properly configuring, managing, and backing up data.
- In an age where ransomware and data-theft attacks are growing in sophistication and volume, relying solely on default protections is increasingly risky.
For true resilience, organisations need immutable, air-gapped backup, granular recovery, enhanced monitoring, and incident detection beyond Microsoft’s standard toolkit.
The case for Acronis Ultimate Microsoft 365 protection delivered by Soteria Cloud
While Microsoft 365 delivers a solid baseline of security, modern threats like human error, misconfiguration, phishing, ransomware and insider risks are evolving rapidly. Without additional layers of protection, backup, and proactive governance, businesses remain vulnerable.
For organisations that treat data loss or disruption as unacceptable, and that should be every South African business subject to the POPI Act, investing in supplementary cybersecurity measures is no longer optional.
To raise your Microsoft 365 security to the highest level, look no further than the Acronis Ultimate M365 Protection package – delivered locally by Soteria cloud. You’ll have access to the best productivity tools matched with the best cyber defences including email backup and encrypted cloud syncing, all powered by Acronis.