Microsoft has announced that its anti-malware protection is becoming available for users of macOS. Previously known as Windows Defender, the software has been renamed more broadly as “Microsoft Defender” in coordination with the news that it will be available on operating systems other than Windows.

More specifically, the anti-virus software for Apple machines going by the name “Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for Mac,” and as of today users running macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, or macOS Sierra can sign up for a limited preview. The move is intended in part to provide businesses who have a mix of Windows and Mac-based computers with the option to protect their machines using the same security platform. Being that Microsoft has already delivered its Office suite to other platforms, and that Defender is a part of the Microsoft 365 package, the company felt it was time to shift away from the Windows-centric approach to its security offerings.

Folks who install Microsoft Defender on macOS can anticipate the addition of new features during the preview phase. Most notably, the company says that it plans to introduce Endpoint Detection and Response as well as Threat and Vulnerability Management (TVM). Microsoft’s blog post about this announcement explains that TVM provides the following abilities:

Mar 04, 2020  Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender ATP) for Mac Collecting diagnostic information If you can reproduce a problem, please increase the logging level, run the system for some time, and restore the logging level to the default. There are two key parts for cross-platform support for Microsoft Defender ATP on Mac: A new user interface on Mac clients called Microsoft Defender ATP. The user interface brings a similar experience to what customers have today on Windows 10 devices. Reporting for Mac devices on the Microsoft Defender ATP portal. The Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac supports the three latest released versions of macOS: Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra. Customers can use Microsoft Intune and Jamf to deploy and manage Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.

• Real-time detection insights correlated with endpoint vulnerabilities.
• Machine vulnerability context during incident investigations.
• Built-in remediation processes through integration with Microsoft Intune and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.

Microsoft Defender (again, previously known as Windows Defender) has been built into the company’s operating system as the default form of protection for around a decade. Along the way it has undergone various name changes, having originally been known as “Microsoft Security Essentials.”

Microsoft refers to its security solution as being a “next-gen” anti-virus. All the same, though early versions originally scored well among anti-virus testing outlets – both for threat detection and for being so lightweight – the effectiveness of Windows’ integrated security software has slipped behind most third-party competitors according to the in-depth testing performed by AV-Comparatives last year.

Microsoft Defender Macos Download

One of the enduring preconceptions about Apple’s Macs has been that, unlike Windows PCs, they don’t require anti-virus protection. While that may have been true at one point in time, the greater prevalence of macOS has demonstrated that Apple’s machines are as much a target for malware and virus authors as those running Microsoft’s OS. Attacks like the Flashback trojan saw a reported 2-percent of all Macs infected.