56% Increase In Disaster Recovery Events Related To Microsoft 365 Domains

REDMOND, WA – According to new data released by IT services data protection and security company N-able, 2024 so far has seen a huge uptick in hacking and cyberattacks targeting Microsoft 365 domains, with a 56 percent increase in the number of disaster recovery events among the service’s clients and a large uptick in the number of backups among its partners.

Critical Start’s Cyber Research Unit (CRU) issued a report that states the number of cyber alerts in the first half of 2024 numbered at 3,400, which represents a 46.15 percent increase year-over-year.

The overall jump in cyberattacks has exposed the vulnerabilities of many IT companies and individuals worldwide, but one of the worst hit, said N-able’s General Manager of Cove Data Protection, Chris Groot, were customers of Microsoft 365’s service, a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft.

This fact, Groot noted, makes regularly backing up Microsoft 365 data on the part of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) especially vital.

Backup has been a necessity for 30 years, and the need remains to protect against accidental data deletion or insider threats. However, with cyberattacks not only increasing, but becoming more sophisticated, MSPs need a backup architecture that is ransomware-resilient,” he said. “MSPs understand that ransomware organizations have been very vocal about their ability to compromise basic backup, and we’ve seen cases where known backup file extensions are specifically targeted. The ever-growing dangers of ransomware and cyberattacks cause businesses a great deal of anxiety, and MSPs need to position themselves as trusted advisors to help identify the right tools and solutions to protect businesses in the best way.”

N-able’s report shows that so far in 2024, there have been a 56 percent increase in Microsoft 365 domain disaster recovery events; 1,000 more MSPs offering backup services for Microsoft 365 year-over-year; and an increase of 42 petabytes of backed-up Microsoft 365 data, as compared to 26 petabytes in 2023.

Simon Beckett, Director of DynaCom IT Support Ltd., said that among the cyberattacks afflicting Microsoft 365, the most prevalent involve the installation of ransomware.

Ransomware continues to be one of our biggest concerns when it comes to protecting our customers,” he said. “Being able to effectively protect Microsoft 365 data, which is one of the highest areas of risk when it comes to this type of attack, is critical.”

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