A highlight of our November service release (2311) is Microsoft Defender for Endpoint security settings management enhancements, which simplifies your cross-platform security experience. In this month’s post, I’m also sharing information on a few capabilities in development that were announced at Microsoft Ignite last week!
I want to hear from you! Let me know how you’re using—or plan to use—any of these capabilities by commenting on this post or connecting with me on LinkedIn.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint enhancements
We’re happy to announce the general availability of our new Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) unified security settings management experience. The simplified onboarding process and integration of Microsoft Intune’s endpoint security policies into MDE provides a consistent single source of truth for managing endpoint security settings across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
This capability bridges the gap between traditional security teams using the MDE console and IT security teams using an Intune console, making it easier for teams operating in both places. It supports organizations of all sizes with fleets of devices across platforms to better protect themselves.
The new experience was one of our top requested features last year, and since we released it for public preview in July, feedback has been positive from users and analysts. Gartner enthused, “You’re breaking boundaries between security management and DevSecOps teams.” We can’t wait for our users to realize the benefits of this new capability!
Microsoft Ignite news roundup
There were a lot of big news stories on management, security, and AI at Microsoft Ignite. In case you missed any of the Intune Microsoft Ignite sessions, check out this comprehensive guide and summary of key takeaways. I’m excited to share information on several solutions that resonated in customer conversations, some of which are available today and others that are coming soon.
Security Copilot in Intune
Microsoft Security Copilot with generative AI is available today as part of the Microsoft Early Access Program for Security Copilot. In the near future, Intune will add Copilot directly to the Intune admin center as a tool to reason over your data in real time and provide insights, contextually and with natural language. These help you respond quickly to issues and save you time to focus on your core business. I’m so excited for this AI-driven innovation! To see this solution in action, Jeff Pinkston (Pinky) did a demo on the experience at Microsoft Ignite in our Modern management innovation shaping endpoint security session or you can also watch highlights in The Future of Security with AI keynote at Microsoft Ignite. You can read more about what’s coming or to sign up for the early access program at Microsoft Intune introduces Security Copilot-embedded experience.
Microsoft Cloud public key infrastructure (PKI)
When talking with customers recently, Cloud PKI drew a lot of interest. Whether your organization already has a cloud-first strategy or you’re migrating legacy applications to Azure, PKI is an essential building block to securely connect workloads and applications. This new capability, coming in February to the Microsoft Intune Suite soon, will allow you to manage your certificates where you manage your endpoints in the cloud with Intune. This end-to-end and lifecycle management solution will allow you to create, revoke, and manage certificates, removing the cost and complexity associated with on-premises PKI infrastructure. Find more information at this Cloud PKI blog post.
Enterprise App Management
Microsoft Intune Enterprise App Management is one of the features we announced this fall that we’re continuing to refine before making available in February in the Intune Suite. This solution modernizes app management by providing simplified discovery, automated packaging and deployment, and updating of outdated apps. You gain access to a secure catalog of prepackaged third-party apps that can be easily discovered, deployed, and kept up to date directly from the Intune admin center. Learn all about it at Introducing Microsoft Intune Enterprise App Management.
Advanced Analytics
Our Advanced Analytics solution available today as part of the Intune Suite provides existing anomaly detection device cohorts, as I discussed in What’s New in August (2308). We're also working on a new device query capability that was announced at Microsoft Ignite and will be available in February as part of the Intune Suite. This feature will allow you to discover the data you need to investigate potential vulnerabilities and issues affecting your devices. Our goal is to extend this functionality to all device platforms and enable you to query your entire fleet of devices. To learn more, please see our blog post, Announcing Microsoft Intune Advanced Analytics. Additionally, if you watched the Microsoft Ignite presentation, Pinky also demonstrated this capability.
Windows and macOS management and security
When I look back at recent posts, I see that we’ve added a ton of Windows management to Intune. In April 2023, we shared news about Windows LAPS; in June 2023, we announced the GA release of Windows drivers and firmware updates and MAM for Edge on Windows; and in July 2023, we added uninstall for apps in the company portal. All these improvements make the experience for IT admins and users better and more secure on Windows and we will continue to iterate the experience on Windows.
As you know, I always like to highlight macOS! We're continuing to innovate in exciting ways, including with support for single sign-on and a wealth of features similar to Windows management. Our cross-platform approach is designed to enable you to manage your entire estate in one place, which can save you time and money by eliminating the need to manage multiple management platforms and on-premises solutions. See a demo of the macOS advancements and review a comprehensive list of macOS management capabilities.
Intune @ Microsoft Technical Takeoff
Here’s a reminder that Microsoft Technical Takeoff (virtual) is coming up fast, November 27 – 30. It’s four days of technical skilling, including deep dives, Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA), live Q&A, and a dedicated demo channel for bonus content. I hope you’ll join us!
Visit https://aka.ms/TechnicalTakeoff to RSVP, learn more, and opt-in to event updates.
Let us know what you think!
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