Windows Defender ATP becomes Microsoft Defender ATP and comes to macOS

Microsoft is going to release its business Defender variant for Microsoft 365 customers for macOS. Therefore, the name is changed from Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection to Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection.

Companies can sign up for a preview version of the software. According to Microsoft, this is still a small-scale test. The software offers the possibility to perform scans, inspect threats and take action, Microsoft writes. Features like real-time protection are also included in the macOS version. Detected threats also arrive at system administrators on the Microsoft Defender ATP portal, just like threats found by the Windows clients.

It is striking that in the video accompanying the announcement, Microsoft talks about expanding its endpoint protection stack to other OS platforms. Microsoft talks about a multitude of operating systems while now only announcing an extension to macOS. Furthermore, graphical representations of Linux PCs are also featured in the video. However, the os is not explicitly mentioned.

Microsoft has recently taken more steps to expand to platforms besides Windows. For example, it has introduced the Microsoft Launcher for Android, as well as the Your Phone app to access notifications and photos from an Android smartphone via a Windows PC. Office 365 has also been available for macOS since the beginning of this year.