Microsoft is bringing its Windows Defender anti-malware application to macOS—and more platforms in the future—as it expands the reach of its Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) platform. To reflect the new cross-platform nature, the suite is also being renamed to Microsoft Defender ATP, with the individual clients being labelled 'for Mac' or 'for Windows.'
If you need to download the software, log in to the Microsoft software campus EES Agreement with your IdentiKey and password and select the Microsoft Defender ATP software link. After successfully downloading, locate and open the Microsoft Defender package file.
macOS malware is still something of a rarity, but it's not completely unheard of. Ransomware for the platform was found in 2016, and in-the-wild outbreaks of other malicious software continue to be found. Apple has integrated some malware protection into macOS, but we've heard from developers on the platform that Mac users aren't always very good at keeping their systems on the latest point release. This situation is particularly acute in corporate environments; while Windows has a range of tools to ensure that systems are kept up-to-date and alert administrators if they fall behind, a similar ecosystem hasn't been developed for macOS.One would hope that Defender for Mac will also trap Windows malware to prevent Mac users from spreading malware to their Windows colleagues.
Microsoft Defender Atp Macos Download
The initial preview of Defender for Mac will focus on signature-based malware detection. This is just the start, however. Defender ATP for Windows tracks various system behaviors and reports them to the ATP cloud service, which can be used to detect threats even without identifying any specific piece of malware. For example, if a system is iteratively opening and overwriting all its documents, there's a good chance that it's running some kind of ransomware process that's systematically encrypting the user's files. ATP can alert administrators that this is happening. The Mac client should over time grow to include similar reporting capabilities. Microsoft is also integrating it into other cloud services, such as Intune device management.
Those cloud services are growing ever more capable, too. Microsoft's system-management software can already report on systems that are using insecure configurations or running out-of-date software, but Defender ATP's new Threat & Vulnerability Management will expand this. The various risk factors will be prioritized according to the current threat landscape—for example, updating systems running insecure software versions becomes more pressing if there's active exploitation in the wild—so that administrators can focus on the software updates and configuration changes that offer the most bang for their buck in terms of improving their exposure to risks.
Further, TVM will integrate with Intune and System Center Configuration Manager to push the recommended fixes to machines that need them. TVM can then track the progress of these remediation activities as they're rolled out.
Microsoft hasn't said explicitly which other platforms will be Defender's next targets. However, its video promotion for Defender for Mac sports a surprising number of penguins, making Linux a likely candidate.
-->This topic describes how to install, configure, update, and use Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.
Caution
Running other third-party endpoint protection products alongside Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac is likely to lead to performance problems and unpredictable side effects. If non-Microsoft endpoint protection is an absolute requirement in your environment, you can still safely take advantage of MDATP for Mac EDR functionality after configuring MDATP for Mac antivirus functionality to run in Passive mode.
What’s new in the latest release
Tip
If you have any feedback that you would like to share, submit it by opening Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac on your device and navigating to Help > Send feedback.
To get the latest features, including preview capabilities (such as endpoint detection and response for your Mac machines), configure your macOS machine running Microsoft Defender ATP to be an 'Insider' machine. See Enable Microsoft Defender ATP Insider Machine.
Download Microsoft Defender For Mac
How to install Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac
Prerequisites
- A Microsoft Defender ATP subscription and access to the Microsoft Defender Security Center portal
- Beginner-level experience in macOS and BASH scripting
- Administrative privileges on the device (in case of manual deployment)
Installation instructions
There are several methods and deployment tools that you can use to install and configure Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.
Third-party management tools:
Command-line tool:
System requirements
The three most recent major releases of macOS are supported.
- 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave), 10.13 (High Sierra)
- Disk space: 650 MB
Beta versions of macOS are not supported. macOS Sierra (10.12) support ended on January 1, 2020.
After you've enabled the service, you may need to configure your network or firewall to allow outbound connections between it and your endpoints.
Network connections
The following table lists the services and their associated URLs that your network must be able to connect to. You should ensure that there are no firewall or network filtering rules that would deny access to these URLs, or you may need to create an allow rule specifically for them.
| Service location | DNS record |
|---|---|
| Common URLs for all locations | x.cp.wd.microsoft.com cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com eu-cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com wu-cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com officecdn-microsoft-com.akamaized.net crl.microsoft.com events.data.microsoft.com |
| European Union | europe.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com eu-v20.events.data.microsoft.com usseu1northprod.blob.core.windows.net usseu1westprod.blob.core.windows.net |
| United Kingdom | unitedkingdom.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com uk-v20.events.data.microsoft.com ussuk1southprod.blob.core.windows.net ussuk1westprod.blob.core.windows.net |
| United States | unitedstates.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com us-v20.events.data.microsoft.com ussus1eastprod.blob.core.windows.net ussus1westprod.blob.core.windows.net |
Microsoft Defender ATP can discover a proxy server by using the following discovery methods:
- Web Proxy Auto-discovery Protocol (WPAD)
- Manual static proxy configuration
If a proxy or firewall is blocking anonymous traffic, make sure that anonymous traffic is permitted in the previously listed URLs.
To test that a connection is not blocked, open https://x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/api/report and https://cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/ping in a browser.
If you prefer the command line, you can also check the connection by running the following command in Terminal:
The output from this command should be similar to the following:
OK https://x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/api/report
OK https://cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/ping
Mac Download Torrent
Caution
We recommend that you keep System Integrity Protection (SIP) enabled on client machines. SIP is a built-in macOS security feature that prevents low-level tampering with the OS, and is enabled by default.
Once Microsoft Defender ATP is installed, connectivity can be validated by running the following command in Terminal:
Defender For Mac
How to update Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac
Microsoft regularly publishes software updates to improve performance, security, and to deliver new features. To update Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac, a program named Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) is used. To learn more, see Deploy updates for Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac
How to configure Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac
Guidance for how to configure the product in enterprise environments is available in Set preferences for Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.
macOS kernel and system extensions
In alignment with macOS evolution, we are preparing a Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac update that leverages system extensions instead of kernel extensions. Visit What's new in Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection for Mac for relevant details.
Resources
For more information about logging, uninstalling, or other topics, see the Resources page.