Thought Leadership
In a public preview, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint extends its protection from Linux servers to workstations running Ubuntu and Fedora, for example.
With its security platform Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft now also officially supports Linux desktops. The feature is available immediately as a public preview. Until now, Defender on Linux only covered servers. Now workstations, for example those of developers who work with distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), can also be secured.
Same range of functions as for servers
The protection includes antivirus, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), vulnerability management, threat hunting and the isolation of compromised devices. According to Microsoft, management corresponds to that for Linux servers. Defender recognizes whether a device is operated in a data center, in the cloud or as a developer’s workstation, and identifies it accordingly in inventory and security workflows.
All Linux distributions that Defender also covers on servers are supported, including RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, SLES, Fedora and Oracle Linux, as well as desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE. For setup, companies can use the same deployment methods as for servers. Microsoft has published the prerequisites on Microsoft Learn.
License for Plan 2 required
A license for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or a subscription to Microsoft 365 E5 or E7 is required. Microsoft has not announced when support for Linux desktops will become generally available.
With this step, Microsoft is responding to the increasing use of Linux on developer machines in companies. Microsoft recently also made WSL Containers generally available, with which Linux containers can be run directly under Windows and monitored via Defender for Endpoint.
(Editorial Team)
