Although the default Windows is called Microsoft Defender, this does not necessarily mean that the service is only available for the company's products.
Last year, Microsoft announced the release of ATP for Apple devices. At the time, the company also stated that it plans to create ATP protection for Linux. A few months later, Microsoft announced the first ATP test for Linux-based operating systems. Today, the company has finally announced the official availability of the protection for users using Linux.
Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux:
Currently, ATP is only supported by the 6 most popular enterprise Linux, which are:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.2+
- CentOS Linux 7.2+
- Ubuntu 16 LTS or higher LTS
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12+
- Debian GNU/Linux 9+
- Oracle Linux 7.2
The initial release of ATP comes with command-line tools that allow users to configure the application, scan their device, and define actions the program will take when it finds malicious files. In addition, the application also provides support for alert monitoring in Microsoft Defender Security Center.
In addition to the built-in command-line tools, users can configure ATP using Puppet, Ansible, or other Linux configuration management applications.
How to install Microsoft Defender ATP on Linux?
If you are using the experimental ATP protection released in February, we recommend that you update your application to version 101.00.75, or the latest version available, at the time you read this article.
However, if you don't have the application installed, you will need to purchase a license first. Once you have a license available for the application, you can proceed with its installation. More information about installing the application on Linux can be found here.
