Antivirus for SharePoint 2016/13 on-premise

Astatke Belay 

This is an old thread, but I am curious what the current consensus is, among experts, regarding SharePoint Server-integrated antivirus usage?

In my experience (10+ years) is that it's pretty rarely used. I recall old opinions that it affects performance too much to be worth it, especially with everyone having AV clients deployed on clients and servers already. But the IT security threat landscape of today is a lot different than it used to be, maybe priorities have changed?

Also, there's also the difference between purely internal vs. public-facing SharePoint Server websites (if the latter still exists?) to consider.

An interesting recent development is the possibility for integrating anti-malware applications, such as Microsoft Defender (or compatible 3rd party applications), via the new https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/security-for-sharepoint-server/configure-amsi-integration. Since Defender is built-in, it sounds like an easy no-brainer to just use by default, but note that it's not an AV replacement but an addition.

All thoughts welcome!

Astatke Belay  I think that you have to protect your PC with the best antivirus in any case, even if you use SharePoint or not. The software developers tell that their software is safe and protected but it is better to get more protection for your system.