Microsoft Defender for Servers Adds AWS, GCP Support

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can now be used on almost any Windows Server system with two changes announced in Apr. 2022.
• A less expensive tier of service could meet the needs of most organizations for server endpoint detection and response.

Defender for Endpoint is Microsoft’s endpoint detection and response (EDR) technology with very different licensing for clients and servers. Two changes announced Apr. 2022 broadened platform support for Windows Server whether running on-premises, in Azure, or in third-party clouds:

Fully featured support on Windows Server 2012 R2 and newer. The product previously required a different installer and offered limited features on older versions of Windows Server.

Support on Windows Server or Linux VMs running in Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or on-premises.

A new tier of service, Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 1, which is now generally available, offers the most cost-effective way to license Microsoft Defender for Endpoint capabilities on servers. Defender for Servers Plan 1 delivers all the EDR capabilities of Defender for Endpoint but does not offer numerous other security features included in Defender for Servers Plan 2, which is primarily beneficial when the OS is running within an Azure VM. (Defender for Servers Plan 1 should not be confused with Defender for Endpoint Plan 1, which is that service’s own tier of antivirus-only features and is licensed for use only on client devices.)