Updated March 2022: Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

Updated March 2022: Ultimate Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

It's been about 5 months since I last updated my comparison of Defender for Endpoint features by OS.  This is a "matrix" of the tons of features, services, and important components that make up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Three months later, it's overdue an update.  So here it is :)  I've also decided to rename it to The Ultimate Comparison of MDE Features by OS... because renaming's what we do, right? Changes include but…
Updated October 2021: Availability of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

Updated October 2021: Availability of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

In July, I released v1 of The Big Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System (or, what I think is much catchier, TBCMDEFOS).  This was a "matrix" of the tons of features, services, and important components that make up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Three months later, it's overdue an update.  So here it is :) The headline news is that, in preview anyway, there's a bunch of additions to Windows Server 2012…
The Big Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

The Big Comparison of Defender for Endpoint Features by Operating System

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) is a massive platform.  It's not a single product, and it's more than just a service.  It's a platform of tons of security features, portals, services, and controls.  The more you dig in, the more elements of general Microsoft security have been included in the MDE "branding".  It's not only endpoint detection and response (EDR), but also Windows 10 security settings.  It's not just the security software on the…
Troubleshooting Hybrid Azure AD Intune Automatic Enrollment

Troubleshooting Hybrid Azure AD Intune Automatic Enrollment

As I have blogged about a lot, there are a bunch of hoops to be jumped through and prerequisites to be met for a successful hybrid Azure AD join and automatic, GPO-invoked Intune enrollment. But sometimes, you have to go back to the basics when you're banging your head off the table, and laugh off the embarrassment of not checking the fundamentals. I was recently setting up hybrid Azure AD join and Intune enrollment,…
Update BitLocker Unique Identifiers with Intune

Update BitLocker Unique Identifiers with Intune

BitLocker unique identifiers are values used to identify the ownership of an encrypted volume.  The device that performs the encryption holds the unique identifier and as encryption begins, it also records this against the metadata of that encrypted volume. The identifiers are typically used in tandem with the BitLocker removable data-drive setting write access to devices configured in another organisation which, if set to block, will prevent write operations on devices where the unique…
Microsoft Defender Network Protection – Not Enabling via Intune – Troubleshooting & Fix

Microsoft Defender Network Protection – Not Enabling via Intune – Troubleshooting & Fix

When configuring Defender for Endpoint (MDE) customer recently, I ran into a problem when trying to enable network protection.  Network protection is a feature of MDE and Microsoft Defender Antivirus (MDAV) that takes the filtering capabilities of SmartScreen and applies them to all network traffic.  It is a prerequisite for things such as MDE's web content filtering and URL/domain indicators of compromise. This blog details the specific problem I had enabling it with Intune…
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint – Offline Onboarding for Windows 10 via a Proxy

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint – Offline Onboarding for Windows 10 via a Proxy

Getting your devices into Defender for Endpoint is referred to as onboarding and can be done in lots of different ways, depending on the scenario.  The tools you use for Windows Server 2008 R2, for example, are different from the tools you use for Windows Server 2019, which are different from the tools you use for Windows 10, and so on. The common denominator behind most onboarding methods is internet connectivity.  Your device connects…
Turn Existing Azure AD Devices into Windows Autopilot Devices

Turn Existing Azure AD Devices into Windows Autopilot Devices

To provision Windows 10 PCs using Autopilot and Intune, they must first be registered as Windows Autopilot devices in the Device Directory Service, which is really the cloud Autopilot service.  When a device is registered to the Autopilot service, its hardware hash is used to generate a Zero Touch Device ID (ZTDID) - a globally unique identifier for that device based on hardware information such as (but not only) MAC address, disk serial number,…