The paradigm shift from on-premises infrastructure to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms has fundamentally altered the operational responsibilities of the IT administrator. In the legacy era of physical data centers, data resilience was a function of physical custody: tape drives, off-site vaults, and redundant server arrays managed directly by the organization.
Today, in a cloud-native environment where an organization possesses no physical infrastructure, the concept of "custody" has shifted to "access," "governance," and "API-driven replication". However, a pervasive and dangerous misconception remains: the belief that SaaS vendors provide inherent, comprehensive data backup as part of the subscription service.
The reality is defined by the Shared Responsibility Model. While Atlassian guarantees platform availability (uptime) and protects the physical infrastructure, you, the customer, retain absolute responsibility for the security in the cloud. This encompasses the management of user identities and, critically, the preservation of the data payload itself.
If a malicious insider runs a script that corrupts thousands of Confluence pages, or if a legitimate user accidentally deletes a critical Jira project, Atlassian’s platform-level redundancy works against you: the corruption is instantly replicated to all redundant copies in the cluster.
To bridge this gap, modern IT administrators must re-architect the foundational 3-2-1 backup principle for the cloud world.
The Evolution of the 3-2-1 Principle
The traditional 3-2-1 rule was formulated in the era of spinning disks and magnetic tapes. It mandated maintaining three copies of data, stored on two different media types, with one copy kept off-site (often interpreted as driving tapes to an Iron Mountain vault, remember that, by the way it still exists).
For a cloud-native administrator without a physical data center, literal adherence to this rule is impossible. There are no tape drives to rotate, and "off-site" cannot be defined by physical distance alone. To remain relevant, the 3-2-1 rule must be translated into the language of cloud architecture:
- 3 Copies: The requirement remains the same, but the form changes. You need your Production Data (live in Atlassian), an Operational Backup (for fast recovery), and a distinct "Vault" copy.
- 2 Media Types (Infrastructure Diversity): In the past, "media diversity" meant using disk and tape to protect against the physical failure mechanisms inherent to a specific medium. In the cloud, the risk is platform-systemic. A bug in AWS S3, a compromised root account, or a provider-wide outage represents the "media failure" of the cloud age. Therefore, satisfying this requirement now necessitates utilizing different storage technologies or providers (e.g., storing data in Azure or a separate AWS environment).
- 1 Off-site (Failure Domain Separation): In a serverless world, "off-site" refers to logical and regional separation. It means storing data in a completely different cloud ecosystem or a heavily isolated account to protect against provider-level outages or regional disasters.
The Modern Standard: 3-2-1-1-0
To combat the rise of ransomware, the industry has further evolved this into the 3-2-1-1-0 strategy:
- +1 Immutable Copy: One copy must be "air-gapped" logically using Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) technology. This ensures that even if an attacker gains admin keys, they cannot delete the backup.
- +0 Errors: Backups must be verified. In SaaS, this means automated granular restoration tests to ensure complex relationships (like Jira issue links) are preserved.
Q&A: Deconstructing the Strategy for Atlassian Cloud
To help you understand how to apply this evolved principle to your Jira and Confluence environments, we’ve broken down the practical implementation and how Revyz acts as your architectural safeguard.
Q: Why isn't my native Atlassian backup considered "Off-site"?
A: If you rely solely on Atlassian’s native disaster recovery or a snapshot stored within the same AWS account, you are operating within the same "failure domain". A bug in the storage protocol, a compromised root account, or a provider-wide outage represents the "media failure" of the cloud age. To achieve true resilience, you must architect a "logical air gap". Revyz solves this by acting as an "External Librarian," extracting data via API and storing it in independent cloud infrastructure, distinct from your live instance.
Q: What makes the "Immutable" copy so critical?
A: Ransomware actors now actively target SaaS applications and their backup repositories. If an attacker compromises an administrator's credentials, they can encrypt production data and simultaneously wipe any backups accessible through the same credentials. Revyz utilizes WORM (Write-Once-Read-Many) technology to create an immutable copy. This ensures that once a backup object is written, it cannot be modified or deleted by any user, including the root account holder, until the retention period expires. Also keep in mind the retention period with Revyz is years not days as is with Atlassian’s native solution.
Q: Can't I just use an Atlassian Sandbox as my "Copy 2"?
A: No, this is a dangerous operational error. Sandboxes are ephemeral environments; they do not retain history, and are often reset or wiped during testing. A sandbox is a destination for testing restores, not a medium for storing backups.
Q: How does Revyz improve upon the "Media Diversity" requirement?
A: "Media diversity" requires utilizing different storage technologies or providers to mitigate platform-systemic risk. Revyz offers a compliant 3-2-1 posture by utilizing independent cloud infrastructure.
Revyz provides two options for customers to consider:
Option - 1 Customer stores their data in their own public cloud account (AWS / Azure)
- Copy - 1 Your Production Data (live in Atlassian)
- Copy - 2 Operational Backup (for fast recovery) and managed by Revyz, with data stored in customers (AWS / Azure)
- Copy - 3 Customer enables Availability Zone (AZ) replication of the data or preferred replication of the data across regions and or public cloud
Copy 1 & Copy 2 are in separate environments
Copy 2 & Copy 3 are also in geographically separate environments.
Lastly Revyz recommends the usage of the Object Lock capability to achieve the 3-2-1-1-0 objective
Option - 2 Customer stores their data with Revyz
- Copy - 1 Your Production Data (live in Atlassian)
- Copy - 2 Operational Backup (for fast recovery) and managed by Revyz, with data stored in Revyz’s AWS account
- Copy - 3 Revyz has Availability Zone (AZ) replication of the data turned on, thus making another copy of the data and in addition has the Object Lock capability turned on to achieve the 3-2-1-1-0 objective.
Copy 1 & Copy 2 are in separate environments
Copy 2 & Copy 3 are also in geographically separate environments.
Q: Why is "Granularity" important for the 3-2-1 strategy?
A: The 3-2-1 rule ensures you have the data, but it doesn't guarantee you can use it effectively. Native Atlassian backups are monolithic; to restore a single deleted Jira project, you often have to overwrite the entire site, destroying all work done since the backup was taken. Revyz addresses the "Zero Errors" standard by indexing data, allowing you to restore "JIRA-1234" and its attachments. This turns disaster recovery from a site-wide catastrophe into a routine, low-risk operation.
Conclusion
For the Atlassian / Jira administrator, the server may be gone, but the data must remain. Relying on the cloud vendor alone leaves organizations vulnerable to accidental deletion, malicious insider threats, and ransomware.
Revyz automates the 3-2-1-1-0 strategy, transforming your posture from "Cloud-Native" to "Cloud-Resilient." By externalizing data to an immutable, logically air-gapped vault, Revyz protects your organization's digital memory against the volatility of the modern threat landscape.
Ready to close your cloud security gap? Contact the Revyz team today or book a demo to understand how Revyz can help you be resilient.
