Microsoft-Defender-Xdr on Ru Campbell MVP

[Updated Feb 2024] Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by OS

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:13:38 +0000

Finally, it’s time for a refresh. It’s been a while! Due to personal circumstances, I haven’t been able to keep the Ultimate Comparison of MDE by OS updated. I’ve had time to dive into the changes since v5 and it’s really been amazing to see MDE grow in scope.

What is MDE and why do we need an ‘ultimate comparison’?

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) is a massive stack of endpoint protection and endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities. It integrates with the broader Microsoft Defender XDR and is available for almost any OS you’ll find in an enterprise. This cross-platform nature of MDE makes it difficult to understand and track what features and capabilities are available on each OS. It’s not always intuitive, and you may be in for some surprises. Hence by I began the Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by OS up to date to keep you aware of what you’re getting and what you need to go start implementing if you haven’t already.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps - Common Microsoft 365 Security Mistakes Series

Fri, 09 Feb 2024 17:30:41 +0000

Defender for Cloud Apps (MDA) is such a hidden gem. When talking with Microsoft 365 E5 customers, it’s amazing how few of them really grab MDA and squeeze all they can out of it. It’s often classified as a cloud access security broker (CASB) but that’s an oversimplication: the product can do so much more such as SaaS security posture management (SSPM) and, most topical in light of recent events, OAuth app governance.

Entra Self Service Password Reset - Common Microsoft 365 Security Mistakes Series

Sat, 03 Feb 2024 11:32:34 +0000

It’s a trope in IT circles: users forget their passwords. The greater your scale, the more time this can occupy with tickets, service desk calls, and so on. If you use Microsoft Entra ID (previously Azure Active Directory), self service password reset (SSPR) is a capability that can help reduce this overhead. SSPR offers a user-driven admin-less approach, where users verify they are authorised to reset forgotten passwords then can do so.

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management - Common Microsoft 365 Security Mistakes Series

Sat, 03 Feb 2024 10:57:52 +0000

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management (MDVM) is an often overlooked service that can be licensed standalone or is included in other Microsoft Defender licenses. In my experience, I’ve never seen it licensed standalone, but customers with Defender for Endpoint (MDE) P2, Defender for Servers (MDS) P1, and Defender for Business (MDB) benefit from it’s core capabilities. In addition to the core capabilities, add-on capabilities are available in the standalone license, Defender for Servers P2, or as an upgrade to the P1 licenses.

Exchange Online Protection & Defender for Office 365 - Common Microsoft 365 Security Mistakes Series

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:26:45 +0000

Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (MDO) are the email and collaboration security services native to Microsoft 365. EOP is included at all levels of licensing for Exchange Online, with MDO bringing additional security capabilities to license levels such as Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5.

In this blog, I’ll review five of the most common security mistakes I see in tenants regarding EOP and MDO. Realistically, this list could go to fifty mistakes, but I’ll focus on ones I think you can quickly convert into quick wins or just may have never crossed your mind.

Microsoft Improves and Simplifies Defender for Endpoint Management Capabilities

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 20:47:03 +0000

In one of the biggest changes to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) in its product history, you no longer need a separate management engine to configure endpoint settings.

In this blog, we’ll look at what that change is, why it was necessary, initial impressions, and what you might want to do next.

Historic management architecture needed simplifying

MDE (and it’s Windows client, Microsoft Defender Antivirus (MDAV)) always stood out from the crowd of endpoint protection platforms as being, well, a bit weird in terms of management architecture. With most platforms, you get a central admin console which pushes out endpoint settings. Think scan schedules, quarantine rules, exclusions, CPU throttling, etc. MDE/MDAV, on the other hand, instead relied on an external management tool such as Intune (MDM), Configuration Manager, or Group Policy.

[Feb 2023] Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by OS

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 15:46:12 +0000

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) is a massive stack of endpoint protection and endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities. It integrates with Microsoft 365 Defender (the broader XDR platform) and is available for almost any OS you’ll find in an enterprise. This cross-platform nature of MDE makes it difficult to understand and track what features and capabilities are available on each OS. It’s not always intuitive, and you may be in for some surprises. I try to keep this Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by OS up to date to keep you aware of what you’re getting and what you need to go start implementing if you haven’t already.

Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by OS [Updated August 2022]

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 07:32:32 +0000

This is the updated “matrix” of OS supported for the almost 80 features, services, and important components that make up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. This follows up on my March 2022 release of the comparison.

What’s new?

Now available in Excel format, which was the biggest request :)
Added the new Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management capabilities (add-on license required)
Added macOS tamper protection support
Added macOS network and web protection
Added iOS and Android’s mobile network protection
Added Linux cloud-delivered protection support
Added Windows troubleshooting mode
Added macOS, iOS, and Android support for network indicators of compromise
Updated host firewall reporting supported OSs
Updated attack surface reduction (ASR) rule supported Windows and Windows Server versions
Updated block at first sight (BAFS) supported OSs (thanks Polle Vanhoof + Thomas Verheyden)
Updated Windows Server support for indicators of compromise (thanks Polle Vanhoof + Thomas Verheyden)
Removed preview references for the unified agent for Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016

Obligatory disclaimers:

Updated March 2022: Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 07:27:18 +0000

It’s been about 5 months since I last updated my comparison of Defender for Endpoint features by OS. This is a “matrix” of the tons of features, services, and important components that make up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

Three months later, it’s overdue an update. So here it is :) I’ve also decided to rename it to The Ultimate Comparison of MDE Features by OS… because renaming’s what we do, right?

Updated October 2021: Availability of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 20:36:54 +0000

In July, I released v1 of The Big Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System (or, what I think is much catchier, TBCMDEFOS). This was a “matrix” of the tons of features, services, and important components that make up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

Three months later, it’s overdue an update. So here it is :)

The headline news is that, in preview anyway, there’s a bunch of additions to Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016 thanks to a new agent-based deployment (“unified solution”) that replaces the need for the Microsoft Monitoring Agent and System Centre Endpoint Protection. You now get almost feature parity with Windows Server 2019’s security features: ASR rules, next-generation protection, block at first sight, etc. For a guide on how to get up and running with it, check out my writeup on Petri.

Tons of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Improvements for Server 2012 R2 & 2016

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 11:36:48 +0000

New protection capabilities for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) customers have landed in public preview, Oct 7 ‘21, for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016. With the public preview released today, Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016 gain ’ functional equivalence’ to 2019, thanks to the use of a new agent that is being described as the ‘unified solution’.

Historically, a significant gap

Previously, as I’ve detailed here and here, there was a large feature gap between Windows Server 2019 and these “down-level” OSs. The onboarding process was also different. To get devices into MDE, you had to deploy the Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA). This was required as the EDR sensor wasn’t built-in, unlike with Server 2019. While Server 2016 shipped with Microsoft Defender Antivirus (MDAV) installed already, to get any kind of scanning and endpoint protection capability in Server 2012 R2, you had to install System Centre Endpoint Protection.

The Big Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 09:59:10 +0000

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) is a massive platform. It’s not a single product, and it’s more than just a service. It’s a platform of tons of security features, portals, services, and controls. The more you dig in, the more elements of general Microsoft security have been included in the MDE “branding”. It’s not only endpoint detection and response (EDR), but also Windows 10 security settings. It’s not just the security software on the device, it’s also ongoing threat and vulnerability management.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus – Schedule & Install Updates via Network Shares

Sat, 13 Mar 2021 21:28:12 +0000

Although not common, there are scenarios out where you will have LAN-only devices onboarded in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE), or at least using Microsoft Defender Antivirus (MDAV). With no line of sight to the internet, you can use options such as WSUS, but in this blog, I’ll explore using a network share, as WSUS isn’t always an option.

Create a directory on your file server with subdirectories for the different CPU architectures you’ll be supporting.

2. On the server, we’ll be installing a script provided by Microsoft. In PowerShell with elevated rights:

Block LSASS.exe using Attack Surface Reduction

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 21:10:23 +0000