Improving Azure Virtual Machines Antimalware Protection

A new Azure feature, currently in preview, allows customers to easily install antimalware software on Windows virtual machines (VMs) created in Azure. Antimalware packages are offered from Microsoft, Symantec, and Trend Micro, and customers can use the Azure portal to choose which antimalware package they want. They can also add antimalware protection to existing VMs using a PowerShell command. The new feature will help protect Azure resources, which benefits both Azure customers and Microsoft. The preview of the Microsoft Antimalware is free. Using Symantec or Trend Micro packages, however, requires the customer to have subscriptions to those vendors’ services.

Portal Provides Easy Antimalware Installation

Before installing the antimalware software, the Azure VM Agent must be installed on the VM. The VM Agent is a lightweight and unobtrusive process that users can optionally enable to run inside Windows and Linux VMs. The VM Agent can then be used to install and manage extensions, which are software modules that extend the functionality of a VM and help make common management scenarios easier. The antimalware packages are installed as Agent extensions on Windows VMs. (They are not available for Linux VMs.)