Microsoft Releases Defender for Endpoint Unified Agent Integration With Defender for Server Plan 2

Microsoft is launching Defender for Endpoint’s unified agent integration with Microsoft Defender for Server Plan 2, aligning the experience between Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Server plans.

The release comes just two months after the company introduced Microsoft Defender for Severs Plan 1, an entry-level SKU that offers Cloud Security Posture Management capabilities including Secure Score and security recommendations in addition to integrations with Defender for Endpoint.

According to Microsoft, the new unified Defender for Endpoint solution adds improvements over the legacy solution with new features such as Tamper Protection, EDR in block mode, improved detection capabilities and others.

With the new release, Microsoft is introducing a new integration with Defender for Endpoint’s unified solution that allows for the removal of dependency with Log Analytics Agent and the workspace solution to deploy Defender for Endpoint to down-level Windows operating systems, according to the company.

“With today’s change, MDE integration is completely based on the two machine extensions MDE.Windows and MDE.Linux which are available for Azure VMs, and non-Azure machines that are connected through Azure Arc-enabled servers,” the company says in a blog.

Admins can enable the unified solution in existing subscriptions by opting in on the subscriptions environment settings/integration page.

When clicking the “Enable unified solution” button, admins will be asked to confirm deployment to all existing and future Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016 machines. Once done, Defender for Cloud will deploy the MDE.Windows extension to all Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016 machines in that subscription. The extension will then install the MDE unified solution and connect it to your MDE backend while, at the same time, deactivating the legacy MDE sensor, according to Microsoft.

Organizations must enable one of the Defender for Servers plans and Defender for Endpoint integration with Defender for Cloud, and make sure machines meet the networking requirements. Read Microsoft’s documentation for a list of system requirements and prerequisites.