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Christian Bernardt's avatar
Christian Bernardt
Brass Contributor
Jun 21, 2017

Windows Defender Management

Let's say a company wanted to make full use of defender and get rid of its anti virus software.

 

Do you advice against getting rid of antivirus in favor of defender? Is there a trial on the horizon, because Antivirus companies feel you are steeling their business?

 

Is there a management application for file signatures, updates, threat evaluation etc.? ... so one can manage thousands of hosts using defender?

 

  • Stephen Hogan's avatar
    Stephen Hogan
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 21, 2017

    There are several methods of managing Windows Defender in the enterprise, depending on the technologies you have currently and what you plan to invest in.

     

    This 4 minute article summaries it all: Deploy, manage, and report on Windows Defender Antivirus https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-protection/windows-defender-antivirus/deploy-manage-report-windows-defender-antivirus

     

    For example, with Group Policies, you have no method of reporting, but if you had WSUS would could at least manage the updates. 

     

    If you want full control, it's a toss between Intune and SCCM.

     

     

    • Dune Desormeaux's avatar
      Dune Desormeaux
      Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
      Jun 21, 2017
      Deployment monitoring and reporting live in SCCM and Intune, and then if you have E5 there is also detailed data in the Advanced Threat Protection portal.
    • Michael Brunker's avatar
      Michael Brunker
      Brass Contributor
      Jun 21, 2017

      If you have both SCCM (1702) and GPOs, which would you recommend to manage the Windows Defender policies?

      • Amitai Rottem's avatar
        Amitai Rottem
        Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
        Jun 21, 2017

        Hi Michael,

         

        Great question, here's my take as a product manager on the Windows Defender team:

        We don't force or necessarily recommend one over the other. 

        That said with SCCM you get a few nice benefits:

         

        1. We only surface the important, common config knobs, so it makes for an easier config experience. You don't need to go into the weeds of obscure seldom used settings like in GPO.

        2. If you already use SCCM for your other management/IT tasks, it's great to do everything in one place.
        3. SCCM also has a dashboard, reporting & compliance over antivirus data, so it's not just deploy/configure and forget.
        4. And of course, SCCM also does deployment, so in the case of Windows 7/8, you would want to use it to actually deploy the SCEP ("System Center Endpoint Protection") agent. This isn't needed for Windows 10. Also SCCM has licenses for AV for Linux and Mac (though basic, and with no reporting).

        Bottom line - I'd start with SCCM (or Intune btw), and if you find yourself needing some of the uncommon GP settings, use GPO/PowerShell/WMI for them.

         

        Amitai

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