What is Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac

Today’s volume of security signals is overwhelming. Microsoft 365 Defender for Endpoint on Mac OS provides antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and vulnerability administration abilities for the three modern-day launched variations of macOS. Microsoft 365 Defender for Office provides extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities and remediation for end-user environments, including (email, documents, identity, apps, and endpoints). Defender for Cloud from Microsoft provides XDR capabilities for multi-cloud platforms and infrastructure, including databases, containers and virtual machines. Microsoft Defender all Together, they can secure your end users and multi-cloud infrastructure.

Prerequisites and System Requirements 

A Defender for Endpoint subscription and get entry to the Microsoft 365 Defender portal Beginner-level ride in macOS and BASH scripting. Administrative privileges on the system (in case of guide deployment) 

The three most recent significant macOS releases are supported. 

• 12 (Monterey), 11 (Big Sur), 10.15 (Catalina) 

• Disk space: 1GB 

• Support for macOS devices with M1 chip-based processors has been officially supported since version 101.40.84 of the agent. 

Beta versions of macOS are not supported. 

After you have enabled the service, you may need to configure your network or security system to get a way for outbound connections between your endpoints. 

Licensing requirements 

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac is included in the following Microsoft 365 subscriptions or can be purchased as a standalone subscription : 

• Microsoft 365 E5 (Microsoft 365 E5) 
• Microsoft 365 E5 Security 
• Microsoft 365 A5 (Microsoft 365 A5) 
• Windows 10 Enterprise E5 
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium 
• Windows 11 Enterprise E5 
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint 

Businesses can install and control the answer via Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Jamf. Microsoft Auto Update is used to manipulate Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac updates, just like with Microsoft Office purposes on macOS. 

Manual Installation for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS

Go to Microsoft 365 Defender portal and download the installation and onboarding packages. 

1. Go to Settings > Endpoints > Device management > Onboarding. 

2. Section 1 of the page sets the operating system to macOS and the Deployment method to Local script. 

3. In Section 2 of the page; 

• Select the Download installation package and save it as wdav.pkg to a local directory. 
• Select Download onboarding package and save it as WindowsDefenderATPOnboardingPackage.zip to the same directory. 

4. From a command prompt, verify that you have the two files. 

Application installation (macOS 10.15) 

An admin privilege to the device is needed to complete this process. 

1. Download and open wdav.pkg 

2. Select Continue and Agree with the License terms.  

3. Enter the password when prompted. 

4. Select Open Security Preferences > Security & Privacy.  

5. Select Allow for the installation to proceed. 

• Reboot the device to complete installation, and real-time protection will get activated. 

Application installation (macOS 11 and newer versions) 

Same with macOS 10.15, you must have administrator privileges on the device to complete this process. 

1. Download and open wdav.pkg  

2. Select Continue and Agree with the License terms.  

3. Enter the password when prompted. 

4. Approve the system extensions and select Open Security Preferences. 

5. Select Allow for the installation to proceed. 

6. Do steps 3&4 for all Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac system extensions and click Allow when prompted to grant Microsoft Defender for Endpoint permissions to filter network traffic. 

7. Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy then Privacy tab. Grant Full Disk Access permission to Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Defenders Endpoint Security Extension. 

Client configuration 

1. Copy wdav.pkg and MicrosoftDefenderATPOnboardingMacOs.sh to the device where you deploy Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS. 

Note:  The client device is not associated with org_id, and the org_id attribute is blank. 

BashCopy 

mdatp health –field org_id 

2. Install the configuration file by running the Bash script. 

BashCopy 

Sudo bash -x MicrosoftDefenderATPOnboardingMacOs.sh 

3. Verify that the device with a valid org ID: 

BashCopy 

mdatp health –field org_id 

After installation, you will see the Microsoft Defender icon in the macOS status bar in the top-right corner. 

Future-proof your business and mitigate security risks with Microsoft office 365. Products like Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, and Microsoft Defender enable devices, streamlined deployments with zero-touch provisioning, secure, high-performance access, and much more. Users can work more efficiently with a safe, easy-to-manage platform equipped with modern tools, including Microsoft antivirus for mac. Microsoft defender for endpoint download is straightforward.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for mac has picked up momentum since its inclusion in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and It has become a prevalent choice among businesses under 300 users. If you are looking for an infrastructure Security or Endpoint Security solution, Contact the London IT Support Company for any further assistance.