1531 - Data processing for Microsoft 365 backup and recovery

As with our general processing regions, when it comes to the backup of SaaS applications like Microsoft 365, functionality is divided into processing and storage.

Processing refers to the backup and recovery of the data from or to third-party services as initiated through a user-defined schedule, while storage refers to the physical location of the servers where the backed-up data is hosted.

The flow of SaaS data as it is backed up is therefore as follows:

SaaS application, e.g. M365 >> Processing region >> Storage location (Redstor Storage Platform or customer's own)

Data is transmitted securely over TLS 1.2, processed in the processing region, and stored in the storage location. Data is never stored at rest in the processing region.

To determine the processing region for SaaS backup data, our system usually identifies the locale of the account's Storage Pool. However, for M365 services, the account locale is already provided, which means the steps look like this:

1. An account is added, e.g. OneDrive
2. Our system retrieves the account's locale (e.g. ZA) from Microsoft
3. The account is processed in ZA region
4. The data is stored in ZA region