Microsoft Security Essentials (sometimes referred to as Security Essentials, MSE) was added by Ola in Sep 2009 and the latest update was made in Nov 2017. The list of alternatives was updated Apr 2016. It's possible to update the information on Microsoft Security Essentials or report it. The answer is complicated. Technically, Macs are not inherently more secure than Windows PCs—and by some measures, they are definitely less so. Over the past five years, Microsoft has made huge security improvements to Windows, and Apple now lags behind Microsoft in implementing library randomization. Dec 22, 2010 The bottom line: Microsoft Security Essentials, an antivirus program created by Microsoft, will protect you, and it will generally do it well. However, its impact on system performance could be. How do Mac security and Microsoft security compare? To a certain extent, the level of security you enjoy will depend on the version of Mac OS X or Windows OS you’re running. For a meaningful comparison, it’s best to consider how the very latest – and fully patched –.

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This topic describes how to install, configure, update, and use Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.

Caution

Running other third-party endpoint protection products alongside Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac is likely to lead to performance problems and unpredictable side effects. If non-Microsoft endpoint protection is an absolute requirement in your environment, you can still safely take advantage of MDATP for Mac EDR functionality after configuring MDATP for Mac antivirus functionality to run in Passive mode.

What’s new in the latest release

Tip

If you have any feedback that you would like to share, submit it by opening Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac on your device and navigating to Help > Send feedback.

To get the latest features, including preview capabilities (such as endpoint detection and response for your Mac machines), configure your macOS machine running Microsoft Defender ATP to be an 'Insider' machine. See Enable Microsoft Defender ATP Insider Machine.

How to install Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac

Prerequisites

A Microsoft Defender ATP subscription and access to the Microsoft Defender Security Center portal
Beginner-level experience in macOS and BASH scripting
Administrative privileges on the device (in case of manual deployment)

Installation instructions

There are several methods and deployment tools that you can use to install and configure Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.

Third-party management tools:
Command-line tool:

System requirements

The three most recent major releases of macOS are supported.

10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave), 10.13 (High Sierra)
Disk space: 650 MB

Beta versions of macOS are not supported. macOS Sierra (10.12) support ended on January 1, 2020.

After you've enabled the service, you may need to configure your network or firewall to allow outbound connections between it and your endpoints.

Network connections

The following table lists the services and their associated URLs that your network must be able to connect to. You should ensure that there are no firewall or network filtering rules that would deny access to these URLs, or you may need to create an allow rule specifically for them.

Service location	DNS record
Common URLs for all locations	x.cp.wd.microsoft.com cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com eu-cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com wu-cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com officecdn-microsoft-com.akamaized.net crl.microsoft.com events.data.microsoft.com
European Union	europe.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com eu-v20.events.data.microsoft.com usseu1northprod.blob.core.windows.net usseu1westprod.blob.core.windows.net
United Kingdom	unitedkingdom.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com uk-v20.events.data.microsoft.com ussuk1southprod.blob.core.windows.net ussuk1westprod.blob.core.windows.net
United States	unitedstates.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com us-v20.events.data.microsoft.com ussus1eastprod.blob.core.windows.net ussus1westprod.blob.core.windows.net

Microsoft Defender ATP can discover a proxy server by using the following discovery methods:

Web Proxy Auto-discovery Protocol (WPAD)
Manual static proxy configuration

If a proxy or firewall is blocking anonymous traffic, make sure that anonymous traffic is permitted in the previously listed URLs.

To test that a connection is not blocked, open https://x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/api/report and https://cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/ping in a browser.

If you prefer the command line, you can also check the connection by running the following command in Terminal:

The output from this command should be similar to the following:

OK https://x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/api/report

OK https://cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/ping

Caution

We recommend that you keep System Integrity Protection (SIP) enabled on client machines. SIP is a built-in macOS security feature that prevents low-level tampering with the OS, and is enabled by default.

Once Microsoft Defender ATP is installed, connectivity can be validated by running the following command in Terminal:

How to update Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac

Microsoft regularly publishes software updates to improve performance, security, and to deliver new features. To update Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac, a program named Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) is used. To learn more, see Deploy updates for Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac

How to configure Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac

Guidance for how to configure the product in enterprise environments is available in Set preferences for Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.

macOS kernel and system extensions

In alignment with macOS evolution, we are preparing a Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac update that leverages system extensions instead of kernel extensions. Visit What's new in Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection for Mac for relevant details.

Resources

For more information about logging, uninstalling, or other topics, see the Resources page.

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Applies to:

This topic describes how to deploy Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac manually. A successful deployment requires the completion of all of the following steps:

Prerequisites and system requirements

Before you get started, see the main Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac page for a description of prerequisites and system requirements for the current software version.

Download installation and onboarding packages

Download the installation and onboarding packages from Microsoft Defender Security Center:

In Microsoft Defender Security Center, go to Settings > Machine Management > Onboarding.
In Section 1 of the page, set operating system to Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android and Deployment method to Local script.
In Section 2 of the page, select Download installation package. Save it as wdav.pkg to a local directory.
In Section 2 of the page, select Download onboarding package. Save it as WindowsDefenderATPOnboardingPackage.zip to the same directory.
From a command prompt, verify that you have the two files.Extract the contents of the .zip files:

Application installation

To complete this process, you must have admin privileges on the machine.

Navigate to the downloaded wdav.pkg in Finder and open it.
Select Continue, agree with the License terms, and enter the password when prompted.
Important
You will be prompted to allow a driver from Microsoft to be installed (either 'System Extension Blocked' or 'Installation is on hold' or both. The driver must be allowed to be installed.
Select Open Security Preferences or Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy. Select Allow:

The installation proceeds.

Caution

If you don't select Allow, the installation will proceed after 5 minutes. Defender ATP will be loaded, but some features, such as real-time protection, will be disabled. See Troubleshoot kernel extension issues for information on how to resolve this.

Note

macOS may request to reboot the machine upon the first installation of Microsoft Defender. Real-time protection will not be available until the machine is rebooted.

Client configuration

Copy wdav.pkg and WindowsDefenderATPOnboarding.py to the machine where you deploy Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac.
The client machine is not associated with orgId. Note that the orgId attribute is blank.
Run the Python script to install the configuration file:
Verify that the machine is now associated with your organization and reports a valid orgId:

After installation, you'll see the Microsoft Defender icon in the macOS status bar in the top-right corner. Change page numbers header microsoft word mac.

How to Allow Full Disk Access

Caution

macOS 10.15 (Catalina) contains new security and privacy enhancements. Beginning with this version, by default, applications are not able to access certain locations on disk (such as Documents, Downloads, Desktop, etc.) without explicit consent. In the absence of this consent, Microsoft Defender ATP is not able to fully protect your device.

To grant consent, open System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Full Disk Access. Click the lock icon to make changes (bottom of the dialog box). Select Microsoft Defender ATP.

Logging installation issues

See Logging installation issues for more information on how to find the automatically generated log that is created by the installer when an error occurs.

Microsoft Security Essentials For Apple Mac 2

Uninstallation

Microsoft Security Essentials For Apple Mac 10

See Uninstalling for details on how to remove Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac from client devices.