Sync & Recover

This article how to configure Sync & Recover for Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated, as well as how to export the archived data and view reports. It is intended for Administrators.

• Only Administrators with Protected Content permission can perform mailbox recoveries.
• Please verify that all details of any intended recipient(s) of the restored mailbox or mail items are correct.
• Mimecast bears no responsibility should the administrator fail to send the recovered mailbox or mail items to the correct recipient.

Overview

Sync & Recover enables Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated  to back up users' mailboxes fully. When signing up for Sync & Recover for Cloud Integrated, you will be prompted with a permissions update upon logging into Microsoft; these are required to allow for read/write access within Azure Active Directory Enterprise Applications.

Sync & Recover protects Microsoft 365 data by allowing the recovery of full point-in-time snapshots of users' environments. It can be integral to an organization's data resilience and ransomware recovery.

This feature can:

• Streamline the configuration of recovery and search.
• Provide a multi-layered defense against Exchange data loss or damage due to ransomware, human error, and technical failure.
• Enable cloud-to-cloud backup; there is no hardware or software to manage.
• Unify the management of compliance archiving and data resiliency.

Capabilities

Sync & Recover has the following capabilities:

1. You can sync Mail, Notes, Calendar Events, Tasks, and Contacts.
2. You can control retention policies for the new data types.

• • Sync can be turned on/off for each data type.
  • The retention period can be increased (up to 36,135 days or 99 years) or decreased (up to 1 day) for each data type.

3. You can view the new data types on Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated User Interface.

• • Each data type will appear as a separate section in the mailbox snapshot view.
  • If sync is turned off for a data type, a message indicating the same will appear under that type.
  • If sync is turned on for a data type but the selected mailbox does not have any data, a message indicating the same will appear under that type.

4. You can export data for the new data types.

• • User can either export all applicable data under all available data types OR export selected items across the available data types.

5. You can restore data for the new data types.

• • User can either restore all applicable data under all available data types OR restore selected items across the available data types.

6. You can de-provision accounts from Cloud Integrated Sync & Recover.
7. To protect against data loss, customers have the ability to define the position of their policy upfront and have it take effect upon creation.

User Actions

If you choose to sync the new data types:

1. You will have to re-consent from the Configuration | Service Authorizations page. Once you sign into Microsoft, you will see the additional permissions listed. Granting these will ensure the new data types can be accessed from Microsoft 365.

You will see a badge on the Configuration and Service Authorizations pages to bring their attention to the missing permissions. A similar message will also be present on top of the mailbox snapshot view.

2. You will have to ensure that the new data types are included in applicable policies. The Mimecast Default policy will include 7-year (2,555 days) retention for all data types.

• • If a data type does not have to be synced, then you should turn this off via the applicable Retention Policy. Turning off a data type will not only stop future syncs but also remove any existing data in the archive for that type.
  • If you prefer a retention period other than the default of 2555 days, then you can adjust this for each data type. The minimum retention period is 1 day, and the maximum is 36135 days. Reducing the retention period for a data type will result in existing data older than this period being removed from the archive.

Setup

You set up Sync & Recover for Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated, by using the following steps:

1. Log in to Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated.
2. Select Sync & Recover from the More Mimecast Products section on the left-hand menu, then click the Get Started button.
3. Select Continue on the Get Started with Sync & Recover Cloud Integrated screen.
4. Read the T&Cs, and when ready, click the Agree button to proceed.
5. Review the Default Policy and then select Save & Continue to Microsoft.
6. You will then be redirected to Microsoft to authenticate and approve the Azure application.

You will need a Microsoft global admin account to do this. Mimecast does NOT have access to or store your Microsoft credentials.

7. Review the breakdown of the Permissions needed and select Accept to agree to the application.

The application's name will be Mimecast Sync and Recover Cloud Integrated (Region: UK/US) app.

8. The Mimecast backup will now begin. Select Go To Home to go to the new dashboard area.
9. There will be a new Archiving tab in the Home section. The initial sync can take a while, as it would pull the last 14 days' worth of data for the entire tenant.
10. Once the first full sync has run, you will have the Sync Overview chart to show the sync status, which runs every 4 hours. The chart will also show a high-level overview of the account, such as how many active mailboxes there are, the number of sync policies being applied, and the total archive size for the account.

Archive Retention Policies

You can create a new Retention policy that will change the Retention policy for your entire account, as customer-created policies will take priority over the default setting.

The following listed items are supported by Retention.

• Mail
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Notes
• Tasks

You can create a new Retention Policy, by using the following steps:

1. Log in to Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated.
2. Navigate to Policies | Sync & Recover.
3. Select the policy on the right-hand side of the screen to edit the settings. (Currently, only the Default policy can be edited).
4. Under Data Types, configure your new custom retention period in days.
5. Click Save.

Contacts

1. Microsoft API does not return certain information about the contact, so these will be not synced.

• • API only returns one mobile number even if there are multiple on O365.
  • API does not return the Assistant Phone number.

2. When we restore a contact, it will include key information like Name, Title, Department, Business Address, Email Addresses, most Phone Numbers (see point 1 above), and Categories.

• • Contact Note and Company Name cannot be restored due to Microsoft API limitations.
  • Less commonly used fields like Other Address (besides business and home), Chat (IM), Fax, Radio Phone, Telex, Callback Phone, and TTY are not included. If any of these add value, these can be explored as an enhancement.
  • Personal information such as Birthday, Anniversary, Significant Other, and Photos are not included in the restore. If required, these can be further explored as an enhancement.

Calendar Events

• Calendar attachments are not synced, as Microsoft does not include these in the ICS file.

Tasks

1. Any attachments in a Task are not included in the Export as Aspose has some limitations.
2. Any attachments in a Task are not included in the Restored version as Microsoft API has some limitations.
3. Task Steps (Checklist Items) are not included in the export due to Aspose limitations.
4. Task Steps (Checklist Items) are not included in the restore due to a Microsoft API limitation.
5. If a Task is recurring, then this information is not included in the export due to an Aspose limitation.
6. If a Task is recurring, then this information is not included in the restore due to a Microsoft API limitation.

Searching Mailboxes

You can search for specific emails/attachments within a folder, filtering by Metadata to avoid false positives. There are no limits on search string length; search strings are not retained when switching folders. Your users can search by specific fields for each folder type, with OR conditions applied to certain fields and AND conditions to others.

See Sync & Recover - What's New for further information.

You can view the archived emails and details, by using the following steps:

1. Log in to Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated.
2. Navigate to the Users menu option.
3. Search for the mailbox (tick the box to include deactivated users if required).
4. Click Explore on the service you wish to browse for that user (i.e., Microsoft Exchange).
5. Select a Snapshot date and time from the users' mailbox of when to restore it, and click Load Mailbox.
6. You can then choose to: 

• • Browse the mailbox at the current date and time.
  • Perform an Export of the mailbox or selected items.
  • Perform a Restore of the mailbox or selected items.

7. You can now explore the folder structure of the mailbox. Selecting a folder will display the emails within it.
8. Selecting a specific Email from the list will take you to a Details page. This allows you to view the email header and the message body (as long as the user has content view rights).

You can select the View Original Email Headers button to view more information about the email, such as authentication results. Additionally, you can use the Download EML button to download the EML file.

Performing an Export

You export the emails that were archived, by using the following steps:

1. Log in to Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated.
2. Navigate to the Users menu option
3. Search for the mailbox (tick the box to include deactivated users if required).
4. Click Explore on the service you wish to browse for that user (i.e., Microsoft Exchange).
5. Select a Snapshot date and time from the users' mailbox of when to restore it, and click Load Mailbox.
6. You can then choose to:

• • Export the entire mailbox from the Snapshot taken at the selected date and time. To do this, click the Export All button.
  • Export selected folders or items (i.e. Inbox, Sent Items) within a mailbox folder using the tick box selection, and then click the Export button.

7. An Export dialog box will appear summarizing the restore items; you must complete this for auditing purposes to achieve the export. See the table below for field descriptions.

Field (* = Required)	Description
Export Name*	Provide a name for the export so it can be easily identified in the future.
Reason	Provide a detailed reason for why the export is taking place.
Format*	File format of the exported files from the archive (currently PST only)
Size*	Archive file size limits or thresholds before file splitting occurs. (Default: 10 GB)
Email Notification*	The recipient(s) will receive an email advising them of the export action and download link.

8. A confirmation email will be sent to all the accounts with which the export was shared. Click the Open Export button embedded in the notification email to go to the Export Details page.

You can cancel the export by selecting the Abandon Export button in the notification email, which is only visible to the person who created the export.

9. Select the Download All button once the export is complete, or download the individual export files as needed.

Performing a Restore

You can restore emails from the archive, by using the following steps:

1. Log in to Mimecast Email Security Cloud Integrated.
2. Navigate to the Users menu option.
3. Search for the mailbox (tick the box to include deactivated users if required).
4. Click Explore on the service you wish to browse for that user (i.e., Microsoft Exchange).
5. Select a Snapshot date and time from the users' mailbox of when to restore it, and click Load Mailbox.
6. You can then choose to:

• • • Restore the entire mailbox from the Snapshot taken at the selected date and time. To do this, click the Restore All button.
    • Restore selected folders or items (i.e. Inbox, Sent Items) within a mailbox folder using the tick box selection, and then click the Restore button.

7. A Restore dialog box will appear summarizing the restore items; you must complete this for auditing purposes to achieve the restore. See the table below for field descriptions.

Field (* = Required)	Description
Restore Name*	Provide a name for the restore so it can be easily identified in the future.
Reason	Provide a detailed reason for why the restore is taking place.
Date Range (enable/disable)	Enable to select All Data from the start of time or disable to further refine your Snapshot point in time.
Restore to Target Mailbox*	The recipient of the restored mailbox or mailbox items.
Email Notification*	The recipient(s) will receive an email advising them of the restore action.
Nominated Target User Confirmation*	Confirm your responsibility for the restore action by ticking the confirmation box (this enables the Restore button).

8. Once you have completed the Restore form and clicked Restore, the process will begin and the notification emails will be sent.