Steps to Migrate OneDrive to GCC High Environment

Government contractors handling sensitive data such as Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) must take proper precautions to comply with various regulations such as CMMC 2.0, DFARS 7012, ITAR, and NIST SP 800-171. However, if you operate in a Microsoft cloud environment and use OneDrive for business, you will likely need to migrate to a secure cloud service such as Microsoft Government Community Cloud (GCC) High to meet those contractual compliance obligations. The fact is that Microsoft’s business cloud services do not meet federal cybersecurity standards for handling CUI, which is why Microsoft developed GCC High specifically to provide the enhanced security and compliance features federal agencies and contractors need to maintain national security.

Migrating OneDrive to GCC High can be a daunting prospect, as you will need to move all your sensitive data to a new tenant while maintaining compliance at each phase of the process. Fortunately, we’re here to help you plan and execute your migration to ensure a smooth transition to GCC High. Keep reading as we provide an overview of the steps involved in migrating OneDrive data to a GCC High environment.

Preparing for Migration

Ensuring your OneDrive migration to GCC High is successful starts with thorough planning. The fact is that failing to take the time to properly prepare for your migration can lead to compliance errors and lost data, which could result in costly fines and penalties. To ensure your migration goes as smoothly as possible, start with these pre-migration planning steps:

• Audit Current OneDrive Usage: Your first step should be to audit your current OneDrive usage by using the Microsoft Purview compliance portal. This will allow you to search for activities like file access, file sharing, and permission changes. Auditing current OneDrive usage can help you get a better sense of what data is being accessed and what changes need to be made to your cybersecurity posture to achieve compliance in your new tenant.

• Identify Sensitive and Regulated Data: Auditing your OneDrive usage will also give you a chance to identify where sensitive data, such as CUI, resides. Identifying the types of data you store in OneDrive and classifying this data is essential, as it will allow you to take precautions to secure your most sensitive data leading up to, and during, your migration.

• Define Scope and Migration Goals: When planning your migration, it’s also essential that you accurately define the scope of the migration by identifying which data, users, and groups need to be moved to GCC High. This will be essential in helping you plan your migration, and it can also save you time and money by ensuring that only necessary data is transferred to GCC High. To help determine the scope of your migration, you should first clearly define your objectives for migrating to GCC High.

Step-By-Step Migration Process

Taking a cautious approach to your migration helps ensure the data isn’t lost or compromised along the way. To help streamline your OneDrive migration to GCC High, consider following these steps:

• Prepare the GCC High Tenant: Before you can migrate your OneDrive files to GCC High, you must first provision your new GCC High tenant. Taking the time now to prepare your new tenant by configuring user and compliance settings can make the transition to GCC High as painless as possible, as your new tenant will be ready to go after your migration.

• Configure Identity and Authentication: When preparing your new tenant, make sure you configure Identity and Access Management (IAM) settings. Limiting who has access to sensitive data, and implementing enhanced security protocols, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), is essential in order to protect your CUI and maintain compliance with NIST SP 800-171.

• Map User Profiles: Next, map user profiles so that the users from the source tenant are linked to their counterparts in the destination tenant. This is an essential step that will help ensure that user data is correctly migrated to their destination accounts.

• Test Migration With Pilot Users: Once you’re prepared to start your migration, don’t try to perform the entire migration all at once. Start by performing a pilot migration with a small group of users. This will validate the process, test performance, and give you time to address problems that occurred before attempting the full migration.

• Execute Full Migration: After the pilot migration, you’ll be ready to start the full migration. When working with sensitive government data such as CUI, perform the migration in stages rather than doing everything at once, as this minimizes disruptions and risks.

• Verify and Validate Content: Finally, once the migration is done, take the time to verify that all migrated components are working properly in the GCC High environment. Take this time to test all migrated data and applications to identify and resolve any issues.

Common Challenges

Of course, even with proper planning, GCC High migrations can be complicated, and it’s not uncommon to face challenges along the way. The good news is that being aware of these challenges can allow you to watch out and take steps to avoid making these common mistakes. To help get you started, here’s a look at two of the most common problems users encounter during OneDrive migrations:

• Broken Sharing Links: A common problem users face following a OneDrive GCC High migration is broken sharing links, resulting in error messages. This can cause frustration and hinder productivity by preventing users from accessing critical data. Check for broken links during your pilot migration so you can identify this problem early. You should also perform link validation along to ensure proper functionality.

• Permissions Mismatches: Another common problem users might face following a OneDrive GCC High migration is an inability to access their data due to permission mismatches. If user accounts in the source environment do not correspond exactly to user accounts in the GCC High tenant, this can result in users not being able to access their data. This makes proper identity mapping crucial when performing these migrations.

Post-Migration Activities

There are a few key steps that you will need to take following the completion of your migration to align with cybersecurity regulations. A few critical post-migration activities you should prioritize include:

• Training Users in GCC High Differences: Even if your team has experience using OneDrive, there are key differences they’ll have to adjust to in GCC High. It is important to provide user training on the differences they’ll encounter in GCC High, as well as what they need to do to secure the CUI they handle.

• Reviewing and Enforce Compliance Settings: Once your migration is complete, you’ll need to review your compliance posture and adjust your compliance settings to ensure you achieve compliance with regulations such as NIST SP 800-171, DFARS 7012, CMMC 2.0, and ITAR in your new tenant. You should also ensure that you have a plan in place for enforcing any new cybersecurity policies to guarantee ongoing compliance.

• Monitoring Access and Usage: In your new tenant, you will need to continually monitor user access and implement the principle of least privilege to ensure that only those who absolutely need to have access to CUI. Monitoring and restricting access to sensitive data is essential to ensure long-term data security and compliance.

Need Help Migrating OneDrive to GCC High? Contact Agile IT Today!

Migrating OneDrive user profiles and data to GCC High is necessary to the security of your CUI and to maintain compliance with evolving federal cybersecurity regulations. For your own sanity, you may then want to consider partnering with a Managed Service Provider (MSP) that is experienced in compliance and handling complex migrations, such as Agile IT. Having the right migration partner by your side can help ensure this process goes as smoothly as possible, as you will have a team of experienced professionals by your side who can ensure that your data is handled securely, and that you achieve compliance in your new tenant.

If you are starting the process of migrating to GCC High, consider contacting Agile IT today. Not only do we have experience helping countless government contractors migrate to GCC High, but as a Cyber-AB authorized RPO, we can also help you work towards getting CMMC compliance in your new tenant. Feel free to contact us today to learn more about our services and how our team of migration and compliance experts can streamline your migration and ensure you achieve compliance in your new tenant.