Blog
Blog — SaaS backup, ransomware & recovery
Articles, guides and case notes on protecting SaaS data.
Recover a deleted Google shared drive: the 30-day and 25-day clocks
A deleted Google shared drive or its files can come back from the Admin console for 25 days. Who can delete, who can restore, and what the window does not cover.
Jira Cloud backup: what Atlassian's native tools restore
What Jira Cloud keeps natively, why individually deleted work items have no recovery path, and why a native restore only goes into an empty site.
Litigation hold is not a backup
A litigation hold answers a legal question, not an operational one. How holds work across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack and Atlassian — and what they leave uncovered.
Double extortion ransomware: what backup cannot fix
Double extortion ransomware steals data before encrypting it. Backup defeats one lever completely and the other not at all — and the difference is legal.
The 3-2-1 backup rule, rewritten for SaaS
The 3-2-1 backup rule was written for media you own. What each digit means when your data lives in Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack or Atlassian.
RTO vs RPO: what each one actually costs you
RTO is how long you can be down; RPO is how much work you can lose. What each means, and the real numbers behind the four SaaS platforms.
Air-gapped backup: what is actually cut
An air-gapped backup of SaaS data is always a logical one. What the term actually means, and the four connections worth cutting.
SharePoint version history: how far back it really goes
SharePoint version history depends on a limit set at four possible levels. Trimmed versions bypass the recycle bin, and folders have no version history at all.
Immutable backup: what the word actually guarantees
An immutable backup is one the storage layer will not let anyone delete before its date. What that means in practice, and what the four SaaS platforms give you instead.
Google Workspace email backup: what Gmail's native tools miss
Gmail gives you 30 days of Trash and 25 admin days after that. What the restore will not bring back, why a mailbox is an identity problem, and what a real email backup has to do.
SaaS data protection: keeping people out is not getting data back
SaaS data protection splits into two jobs that get merged: preventing bad events and recovering from them. What each layer looks like across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack and Atlassian.
SaaS backup: what your vendor has already decided for you
Your SaaS contract covers uptime, not recovery. What SaaS backup actually means, the three things people mistake for it, and the native ceilings your vendors chose.
How to back up Google Workspace: every route, and what each misses
There are four ways to back up Google Workspace and only one is a backup. The documented windows, exclusions and restore limits of each, side by side.
OneDrive backup: why folder sync is not one
OneDrive gives you sync, a 93-day recycle bin and a 30-day rollback. None of them is a backup, and a licence condition can outrank your retention policy.
SaaS disaster recovery plan: the failures backup alone will not fix
Most SaaS disasters destroy access, not data — a vendor outage, a failed sign-on, a lapsed subscription. A SaaS disaster recovery plan has to cover all five hazards, not just the one a backup fixes.
Recover deleted Slack messages: what is actually possible
Can you recover deleted Slack messages? There is no trash — a retention setting decides in advance whether the content still exists. Here is what to check.
Ransomware disaster recovery plan for SaaS data
A ransomware disaster recovery plan for SaaS starts with RTO and RPO — but the platform, not you, sets your recovery point. Here is how to take it back.
Does cloud backup protect against ransomware?
Does cloud backup protect against ransomware? Recycle bins and version history are a time-boxed undo, not a backup. See how far native recovery reaches.
Slack export: what a workspace export actually contains
Slack export explained: you get JSON messages and links to files, not the files, and no supported restore. See what each plan reaches and where the gaps are.
Bitbucket backup: what a git clone does not save
Bitbucket backup explained: Atlassian's only documented recovery path is your own git clone, which restores commits and branches but no pull request history.
Confluence backup: what Atlassian Cloud actually keeps
Confluence backup explained: the page trash has no expiry, deleted spaces get 60 days, and the native export keeps one copy for 14 days. See what it misses.
Microsoft 365 backup: what is actually covered
Microsoft 365 backup comes in three layers: the native windows in your tenant, Microsoft’s own Backup add-on, and an independent copy. What each one covers.
Recover deleted Gmail and Drive files: the real windows
Gmail gives you 30 days in Trash plus 25 admin days. Drive uses the same two numbers, but the admin clock starts when the trash is emptied. How both really run.
Exchange Online mailbox recovery: what you can actually get back
Deleted mail, a purged item, a whole mailbox from a leaver. Here are the real Exchange Online recovery windows — 14 days, 30 days — and where they stop.
OneDrive recycle bin: how long you actually have to restore
The OneDrive and SharePoint recycle bin gives you 93 days from the original deletion, not from when the item reached the second bin. Here is what that covers.
Microsoft Teams backup: where your Teams data actually lives
Teams has no database of its own. Here's where Teams messages, chats and files really live, what the native 30-day and 93-day windows cover, and what they miss.
GDPR backup requirements: what the regulation asks of SaaS data
GDPR never says the word "backup" — yet Article 32 requires you to restore personal data in a timely manner, and to test that you can. Here's what that means.
Slack message & file retention: what's actually kept
Slack retention varies by plan and admin config — from a 90-day cap on Free to indefinite-until-configured on paid tiers. Here's what's actually kept, and what isn't.
Atlassian Cloud backup: what Jira and Confluence actually save (and don't)
Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud give you a 60-day trash and a manual export button. Here is exactly what that covers, what it misses, and what closes the gap.
How to restore a deleted Google Workspace user
A deleted Google Workspace user is restorable for 20 days from the Admin console. Here is exactly what returns, what quietly does not, and what to have in place before day 21.
Google Workspace backup: does Google actually back up your data?
Google Workspace keeps trash for 30 days and gives admins 25 more — as an all-or-nothing date-range restore. That's retention, not backup. Here's the difference and how to close the gap.
The SaaS shared responsibility model — why Microsoft, Google and Atlassian don't back up your data
The short answer: your SaaS vendor keeps the platform running. Keeping your data is your job. Here's what that actually means for M365, Google Workspace, Slack and Atlassian.
NIS2 and SaaS backup: what the directive actually expects
NIS2 pushes backup and recovery from best practice to legal obligation for many EU organisations. Here's what that means for your SaaS data — and how to show you can recover.
Microsoft 365 ransomware recovery: what actually gets your data back
Microsoft 365 keeps the service running — recovering your data after ransomware is on you. Here's what native retention covers, where it fails, and how a real restore works.