10 Reasons You Need Backup for Google Workspace

Why Securing SaaS Data for Google Workspace is a Must

While Google Workspace is an exceptionally secure SaaS application platform, it cannot protect your workloads from data loss or corruption. There is no guaranteed method to recover data lost because of human error, malware, sync errors, and/or insiders with malicious intent. This issue is prominent enough that Google recommends third-party Google Workspace backup as necessary for point-in-time recovery.

What is the Native Google Workspace Backup Solution?

Google provides limited data protection for Google Workspace data. Per Google documentation, data region policies cover data-at-rest (including backups) for core services, including:

• Google Calendar
• Google Contacts
• Google Drive
• Gmail
• Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

However, these backups aren’t available to restore data upon customer request and expire or are overwritten on defined timelines. A plan that does not offer easy and/or unlimited point-in-time recovery is essential for easy cloud disaster recovery and seamless business continuity. This is vital for any organization that has its business-critical data on Google Workspace. When was the last time you backed this data up?

Filling Native Google Workspace Data Protection Gaps with the Cloud

Common myths exist when discussing online Google Workspace backup solutions. While this platform is secure, it’s a mistake to think it doesn’t need backup—it does, just like any other data storage solution.

If you’re using Google Workspace to run your business, you should know Google is not responsible for backing up your created data. While Google stores multiple copies of your data and the chances of losing it are slim, the company does not take responsibility for data loss. If you still choose to trust that your data is safely stored by Google, you should address the need for protection against user errors, hacker attacks like ransomware or phishing, malicious actions, and unauthorized access from lost or stolen devices.

Still not convinced? Listed below are ten key reasons for third-party backup:

1. Accidental or Intentional Deletion of Critical Data:

Users on your organization’s domain might delete a file due to various reasons.

• • Creating Space on the Drive: Whenever users on Workspace get a notification that they’re running out of space, they often try to create space by deleting files that seem less important. However, this practice is risky. What if you need those files later? They will be gone forever.
  • Removing Duplication of Data: Workspace has the collaborative feature of allowing many users to work on the same file. Although this feature is quite useful, sometimes people create different versions and copies of the same file, eventually losing track of the original version! In such cases, users might accidentally delete copies and end up erasing the original too.
  • Safeguarding Sensitive Information: Sometimes you need to share documents containing sensitive information with team members in your organization. Once the task is over, users tend to delete documents to prevent business-critical data from falling into the wrong hands. But what happens when confidential information is deleted without having a backup? You won’t be able to access it if needed for compliance or audits.

2. Malicious Actions by Third-Party Apps on Your Domain:

While adding third-party apps, you might click on the ‘allow’ button and give access without going through the list of permissions required for installing the application. This is more common than we think and creates invisible threats that can become a gateway for hackers to access your data.

3. Lost or Stolen Devices Create Critical Security Risks:

With Google Workspace’s ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ data and device policies, it is common to keep accounts signed into multiple devices at the same time. While this can save time and allow for easy access—the flip side is that if a device gets stolen, it exposes important data and allows for ransomware or other cyber threats; critical business data is now accessible and free to be deleted.

4. Ransomware Is a Constant Threat—Even for SaaS Apps:

Every organization knows about the threat of ransomware, and many are scrambling to incorporate cloud-first ransomware protection into their IT environment. Ransomware is a type of malicious software used by attackers to encrypt and lock your data and demand a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption keys. How does this happen? All that is needed is a cloned email with a virus attachment. If an employee engages with this email, hackers can gain access to encrypt, and a ransom deadline may be set to erase your data—catastrophic to any organization.

5. Vulnerabilities in Google Drive Sync and Desktop Client:

Are you aware of the vulnerabilities associated with using the sync client? If your desktop gets affected by ransomware, the sync client—if configured to sync immediately—could immediately infect your Google Drive files, spreading rapidly and ultimately locking them. In this situation, only a backup could save you from spending time and money to retrieve data.

6. Employees May Accidentally Overwrite or Delete Data:

The collaboration feature of Workspace allows files and folders to be shared easily among team members. Although this improves efficiency with multiple people working simultaneously on the same file, the downside is the probability that someone might overwrite important data. Despite the version-control system on Workspace that tracks changes, it is quite difficult to revoke a specific user’s changes.

7. SaaS Outages and Shutdowns Can Lead to Data Loss:

To run your business efficiently, you might have subscribed to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application. What happens if there is an outage? A secure backup solution is critical to circumvent any issue with your data should this occur. If you have a backup of your Google Workspace data, you won’t need to worry about outages or fret over saving your data before the service provider shuts down for good.

8. Mergers and Acquisitions Further Complicate Security:

Whether it is a merger of two companies or the acquisition of a small company by a bigger one, data migration is a vital aspect that could directly affect the success rate. Using a backup solution for your Google Workspace makes the process easier to successfully execute and implement.

9. Legal, Compliance, and Litigation Requirements:

No matter the size of an organization, it is expected to hold records of current and historical data for litigation purposes and legal compliance. Though you can use Google Vault for creating a litigation hold and retrieve past data from archives, the data would be available only as long as it is not deleted. In these cases, a backup solution is a better option since you would have a copy of all data, even if it is deleted from Google Workspace.

10. Employees Take Key Data with Them When Leaving:

When employees leave an organization, the standard procedure is to back up their data and reuse the account license. Even though you can take a manual backup—with an application like Google Takeout— you cannot restore data from Google Workspace with the original sharing permissions. A better option is using a backup solution to facilitate cross-user restore into a user’s account, preferably the manager’s account for easy retrieval.

Zerto Backup for Google Workspace, powered by Keepit

For Google Workspace specifically, Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, provides a comprehensive, scalable, and cost-effective solution to protect critical data—including Gmail, Google Drive, and Shared Drives. It protects against common risks like accidental deletion, file corruption, insider attacks, ransomware, non-compliance with data retention, legal hold, and eDiscovery.

• Keep your data available 24/7 with automatic backup and unlimited storage.
• Quickly find and restore data, whether you want to restore one single email or an entire snapshot for your organization.
• Easy to set up, easy to use, easy to scale. Zerto Backup for Google Workspace is a set-and-forget installation that is easy to use; no training needed. You can integrate it with your existing system thanks to our API-first approach. No hidden fees, no surprises, and 24/7 support.
• Choose an independent cloud for immutable data. Once your data is backed up with Zerto, it is made immutable and undeletable thanks to a blockchain-like verification technology called a “Merkle Tree”. It is our priority to provide you with excellent reliability, great backup and restore performance, instant access to individual files, multi-factor authentication, and data encryption at rest and in transit.

Next steps

Simple, secure, and scalable—Zerto is the ideal choice for protecting your Google Workspace data, no matter the use case. Take a deep dive into how Zerto Backup for Google Workspace closes the critical gaps in native SaaS apps backup or get more information in the datasheet.

Finally, we welcome the opportunity to show you what Zerto can do for you. Get in touch to learn more or request a demo.

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Sarah Doherty
Senior Product Marketing Manager