Microsoft 365 Backup: Activity Logs

🚨 The Signal: Microsoft 365 Backup now includes activity logs for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Exchange. This enhances visibility into backup and restore operations, improving auditability and compliance for critical data protection.

The Impact

Backup administrators gain enhanced visibility into data protection activities, reducing operational blind spots and improving audit trails.

• Backup administrators: Improved visibility into policy changes and restore status.
• Security teams: Better audit trails for data recovery operations.
• Compliance officers: Enhanced evidence for backup and recovery attestation.
• Incident responders: Faster identification of backup-related issues or anomalies.

The Action

1. Review existing backup policies and procedures to incorporate new logging capabilities.
2. Educate backup administrators on accessing and utilising the new activity logs.
3. Integrate M365 Backup activity log review into regular security and compliance audits.
4. Define roles and permissions for who can view and export backup activity logs.

Impact: medium · Workload: Microsoft Purview · Essential Eight: Regular Backups · ISM: ISM-1511, ISM-1515, ISM-1705, ISM-1706, ISM-1707, ISM-1708, ISM-1810, ISM-1811, ISM-1812, ISM-1813, ISM-1814