What Is SaaS Backup and Why Is It Vital for Every School’s Data Protection Efforts?

By 2025, 55 percent of educational institutions will have implemented a complete software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud model. This revolution in education is reflected in the SaaS investments schools are making: Virtue Market Research says the Edtech SaaS market will grow at a 16.5% CAGR between 2022 and 2027, with the U.S. predicted to hold an 85 percent share of that market. That growth makes sense, considering that SaaS is cost-efficient, accessible, scalable, and always up-to-date. 

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, when it comes to ransomware, schools are leading the way—but not in a good way. Sophos’ The State of Ransomware in Education 2023 found that the education sector reported the highest ransomware attack rates for all industries surveyed. Let that sink in. 

The survey of education IT professionals found that four out of five had been hit by ransomware in the previous year. Statista says that cyberattacks on the education sector that result in “data violation”—in other words, compromised data, including private student data—grew by more than 400 percent between 2020 and 2023. Those numbers make it clear. If you’re an IT pro in education, you must redouble your data protection efforts by adding SaaS backup.

What Is SaaS Backup?

SaaS backup independently secures data created and stored in SaaS applications by replicating it and storing it in a separate location. The Shared Responsibility Model underscores its importance, placing responsibility for data loss protection squarely on your institution’s shoulders.

SaaS backup solutions regularly capture and copy your data to a secure, secondary storage environment.This process includes authenticating and securely connecting to the SaaS solution using API keys or OAuth. Once connected, the backup solution captures the data from your SaaS applications. 

The encrypted data is then transferred to the solution’s storage infrastructure, either in the cloud or on-premises, depending on the requirements. If your data is lost for any reason, you can access your backed-up data via the solution’s dashboard.

Arcserve SaaS Backup is a cloud-native solution perfect for the education sector. It offers complete protection for data stored in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure AD, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Google Workspace. The solution features immutable backups using a blockchain-based algorithm. Immutable backups are stored in a write-once-read-many (WORM) format that can’t be altered or deleted by unauthorized users. That ensures you always have a clean copy of your data for recovery—your last line of defense.

SaaS Backup Is Cost-Effective and Scalable

IT teams in educational settings usually have tight budgets. Arcserve SaaS Backup is the most cost-effective solution available, with a single price per seat that includes all SaaS data protection capabilities. That includes custom backup retention settings to meet your compliance requirements and limitless data storage in an online cloud tier, ensuring fast access and restores. There is no additional charge for data traffic—ingress, egress, or transaction fees.

Advanced SaaS Data Protection

Arcserve SaaS Backup is simple to set up, taking under five minutes before starting protection. It features a single pane of glass for easy management, with multi-tenant and role-based access controls (RBAC) for added security and complete control over the protected data.

The solution is secure, scalable, and available by design. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest and has a 30-day default retention. Four copies of your backup data are stored in two data centers within the same region, guaranteeing data sovereignty and redundancy.

Get Schooled On SaaS Data Protection

The best way to see how simple and effective Arcserve SaaS Backup is to schedule a demo.

If you’re ready to take a test drive, check out our 30-day free trial offer. And for expert help with all of your data protection efforts, choose an Arcserve Technology Partner.