In partnership with OPSWAT’s MetaDefender Advanced Threat Prevention Platform, antivirus scanning in Windows Defender Antivirus is now available for on-premises and hybrid cloud Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) scanning.
We recognize that many organizations need hybrid security solutions where the best components of Microsoft’s security suite can be utilized to ensure the security of local components, such as large network storage arrays. Currently, Windows Defender Antivirus works with EMC solutions utilizing the Celerra AntiVirus Agent (CAVA). Today, Leveraging OPSWAT MetaDefender support for both ICAP file submission for scanning and REST-based submission, customers requiring scanning for large local storage arrays or cloud storage arrays can now utilize the industry-leading antivirus engine in Windows Defender Antivirus.
What is ICAP AV scanning?
The Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) was introduced in 1999 by the ICAP forum. It is a lightweight HTTP-based RPC protocol designed to offload processing of Internet-based content to dedicated servers. Specifically, the goal of ICAP is to offload tasks like antivirus scanning onto specialized servers to increase network throughput. As an open protocol, the support of ICAP AV scanning for large storage arrays or secure web gateways is ubiquitous. Most of these devices can be configured to forward files when they are open, written, or transferred to an ICAP AV scanner.
What is REST AV scanning submission?
Representative State Transfer (REST) is a style of web services which are simple to invoke and stateless, providing a scalable set of services and service interoperability. Because REST calls are stateless, load management can be efficiently controlled with simple load balancing mechanisms between servers. REST’s simplicity and stateless nature tend to produce more robust service implementations than session-based services.
What this means for your hybrid environment
If your organization relies on Windows Defender Antivirus for threat identification, you can now use it to efficiently perform antivirus scans on storage arrays, network appliances, and cloud-based bulk storage (e.g. Azure Blobs or AWS S3) using OPSWAT MetaDefender, which is AV-agnostic.
Customers can use Windows Defender Antivirus exclusively or combine multiple licensed AV scanning solutions on the same server. MetaDefender is highly scalable and built for high-performance traffic handling and scanning. Security policies for specific hosts, client machines, or HTTP headers can be applied.
For hybrid cloud customers, MetaDefender with Windows Defender Antivirus can be used to scan AWS S3 storage, local storage area networks (SANs) and network-attached storage (NAS), or document management systems. ICAP scanning provides efficient scanning on read/write access for bulk storage.
Windows Defender Antivirus is a leading antivirus solution in the market today—consistently achieving top scores in industry tests thanks to advanced machine learning technologies and extensive threat intelligence. The scale of Microsoft’s optics into endpoints makes our machine learning models highly effective. With its rich data set, integration into the operating system, and growing cross-platform capabilities, Windows Defender Antivirus provides best-in-class endpoint threat detection.
How you can get the benefits of Windows Defender Antivirus on MetaDefender
If you are an existing OPSWAT MetaDefender customer, you just need to add Windows Defender Antivirus as a component in your scanning package on the MetaDefender console. For customers looking for an ICAP scanning solution to secure their cloud storage or local infrastructure, contact MetaDefender for package information and licensing requirements. MetaDefender offers both appliance and virtual solutions so you can tailor-fit a solution that’s optimized for your infrastructure and budget. You can also use the MetaDefender’s cloud submission portal to analyze files and compare results across supported antivirus solutions.
We’ve got your back
With the recent general availability of Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac, Microsoft is delivering leading endpoint security solutions across platforms. Support for security in hybrid cloud environments is another manifestation of Microsoft’s commitment to empower you to do more, whatever your infrastructure requirements, and we look forward to continuing to build solutions to address your needs and the evolving threat landscape.