Microsoft Defender for Linux is coming. This is what you need to know

guest · Mar 24, 2020

Microsoft Defender for Linux is coming. This is what you need to know
Microsoft's security tools extend beyond the company's own platforms
March 24, 2020
https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...inux-is-coming-this-is-what-you-need-to-know/

Now Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux in is in public preview for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7+, CentOS Linux 7+, Ubuntu 16 LTS or higher, SLES 12+, Debian 9+, and Oracle Enterprise Linux 7. But what does it actually protect those OSes from?
Microsoft already has Linux malware detection in the Defender agents on Windows and Mac, because files get moved from one device to another and you want to catch malware wherever it is -- ideally before it gets onto a vulnerable system.

When Defender ATP is generally available for Linux at the end of 2020, that comprehensive endpoint protection will include "a wide range of exactly the same kind of detection tools that you see on Windows," Lefferts says. "The initial release does not include all of the remediation action capabilities that we have in Windows, but it is something we aspire to add to it over time."
The preview can spot and block malware and 'potentially unwanted applications' (PUAs).
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Command-line control
That's why Defender on Linux is initially focused on servers and DNS, says Lefferts: "Linux machines, entire machines, are being used as platforms for applications". That includes VMs running in the cloud, and because it's aimed at servers, Defender doesn't have a user interface on Linux -- it's all run from the command line, it works with the usual Linux-management tools like Ansible, Chef and Puppet, and configuration options are in a JSON file.

There's nothing to stop you running Defender on a developer laptop running Linux if you want to protect it. "We are not yet targeting Linux as a desktop or user endpoint -- again, primarily because of the GUI issue, although it does work. So, if you're talking about folks like coders, they might be able to survive in that environment but it's not something that we would turn loose on regular users," Lefferts warns.
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Microsoft: Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux

This topic describes how to install, configure, update, and use Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender ATP) for Linux.
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Microsoft Defender for Linux is coming. This is what you need to know

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Microsoft Defender for Linux is coming. This is what you need to know

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