[Ed. note: This is the 40,000th story submission to SoylentNews.org (Thanks everyone!) --martyb]
Microsoft Defender for Linux is coming. This is what you need to know:
Microsoft's security tools extend beyond the company's own platforms. While the ambition for Defender for Linux is broad, the first preview is aimed just at servers and does less than on Windows.
[...] When Defender came to macOS as well as Windows, Microsoft announced that the name of the software was changing, from Windows Defender to Microsoft Defender. Hidden in the presentation was a hint about the future: a Linux laptop with a penguin sticker on. 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. If you're using WSL, Defender already protects you against threats like infected npm packages that try to install cryptominers.
[...] For smartphones, Microsoft seems likely to concentrate on phishing, and not just in email but potentially in messaging apps too.
[...] "But then let's move past endpoints -- let's talk about your whole estate, all of your users and all of your data and all of your communication tools inside of one threat protection environment."
Rest assured that this is guaranteed to have the same quality, security and stability that you have come to expect from the Microsoft brand name. Count on it!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 27 2020, @02:34PM (1 child)
If I just HAD TO run a malware/virus detector, Defender is one of the better ones to run. It catches just about everything that the brand name AV's catch. There is an added benefit, in that MS knows what their own systems are susceptible to, so they watch for that. Fire up an instance of Windows, and install various AV applications, and monitor the use of system resources. Defender compares favorably with the best of them, and blows many of the others out of the water. AC above mentioned "retarded compliance reasons" for running an AV on Linux. If I just had to comply, I might consider Defender.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 27 2020, @08:19PM
Runaway's got a new gig as a MS troll, to supplement his Russian payments! At least some of the gig economy is not affected by Covid19!