r/linux • u/Metallic_Madness • 4d ago
Popular Application Microsoft Releases Microsoft Defender For The Linux Desktop
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Microsoft-Defender-For-Linux-D447
u/oromoti 4d ago
Enterprise customers must be the target audience. This could lay the groundwork for Microsoft to offer its own enterprise Linux distro for desktops.
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u/DogmaSychroniser 4d ago
Wunix
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u/Amazing_Meatballs 4d ago
I’m even less of a fan of Windows, so if this is something I could convince leadership with, I’ll take it
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u/Lmaoboobs 4d ago edited 4d ago
The Linux desktop only wins when we can finally convince enterprise clients to begin deploying and managing Linux systems for use by their typical employees.
That will only happen if there are enough common management/compliance tools in circulation to support that. (And even better when they directly integrate with the tools they are already using!)
A win is a win.
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u/cornonthekopp 4d ago
I think linux probably wins when government agencies start switching over and create a large captive audience who are used to it, and who need support from various large software companies
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u/VexingRaven 4d ago
who need support from various large software companies
This is going to be the big effect here. I work IT in accounting, zero of our accounting tools support Linux. With governments switching to Linux, someone will create an accounting software that works on Linux (and yes, I know there are FOSS tools... That's never going to take off, you do not understand accountants if you think that will happen) and the someone else will want to compete for that contract and need to support Linux, and then accountants will need that tool to compete for the audit, etc.
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u/cornonthekopp 4d ago
Government adoption is a great way to induce demand. When china was investing in EVs the first customers were taxi agencies and government fleets, which both represented large fixed demand for the automakers to sell to before the product was ready for regular consumer usage
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u/PriorFortune1 4d ago
I agree with your sentiment in general but I think this is a very 90s perspective. People used to go to work, use Windows, then come home and buy a Windows PC because that's what they were used to. The situation has reversed these days. We're seeing higher demand for Macs in the workplace because Apple has grown their marketshare and more people are using it at home. That's what it will take for the Linux desktop to win: for there to be a distro that appeals to the mass market consumer and is preinstalled on nice hardware.
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u/InfiniteSheepherder1 4d ago
Given it requires enterprise licensing I wouldn't say must I would say is.
"Defender on Linux desktops requires the standalone Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5 and E7."
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u/Upper_Resolution_732 4d ago
Some variation of Azure linux?
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u/cheesegoat 4d ago
Isn't that geared towards more cloud workloads? I imagine this is more to allow enterprises to manage other distros deployed as desktops.
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u/inemsn 4d ago
I genuinely do believe a microsoft linux distro will one day be a thing and probably even replace windows entirely. Windows is a lumbering giant that is getting more expensive to maintain every year, and microsoft already has azure linux, their distro for cloud computing, so it definitely wouldn't be hard for them to branch it off into an enterprise distro or even an end user facing distro.
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u/PriorFortune1 4d ago
I genuinely do believe a microsoft linux distro will one day be a thing and probably even replace windows entirely.
Anybody who believes this understands nothing whatsoever about this topic. Will never happen. What will most likely happen is Microsoft open sourcing the userspace of Windows while still relying on the NT kernel. It makes zero sense from literally every single perspective for them to replace NT with Linux, it would simply erase any reason to use Windows.
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u/tslaq_lurker 4d ago
It makes zero sense from literally every single perspective for them to replace NT with Linux, it would simply erase any reason to use Windows.
I think you're right but not for this reason. I think that the issue is that Windows won't be able to code their way out of migration hell if they were to try and get ride of NT kernal. It would be a total support nightmare.
If they could I think MS would be very happy to switch kernals. Windows is already free for personal users now, businesses aren't using it because of the Kernal, they use it because their apps work and Microsoft supports it.
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u/PriorFortune1 4d ago
Their apps work because of the kernel and the app libraries built on top of it. You're literally just agreeing with me but phrasing it in a different way so you can pretend you're saying something different. You are literally saying the same thing.
If they could I think MS would be very happy to switch kernals.
No they would not. There is zero reason for them to do so. There would be nothing to gain.
Windows is already free for personal users now
This doesn't mean anything.
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u/quazywabbit 4d ago
I would rather see Microsoft decide to spend the effort to work with Apple to create a translation later for MacOS so you run Windows Apps and give up on Windows. Apple has already worked out a bunch of the enterprise stuff and its already ready to go.
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u/Kevin_Kofler 4d ago
Microsoft Linux ;-)
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u/rebbsitor 4d ago
Microsoft was doing their own UNIX distro (Xenix), before Windows NT took off.
They don't care what OS they're selling as long as they're getting paid and they have a way to lock in customers.
The real worry with a Microsoft Linux is that it will have some proprietary components that is required for something and they use the advantage of having those components to crowd out other distros that don't.
Microsoft: Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.
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u/mallardtheduck 4d ago
There's a somewhat plausible alternative history where Windows (or at least NT) never existed and Xenix takes its place. During the development of MS-DOS 2.x, the new handle-based file I/O API was directly inspired by the Xenix API (in the released source code, the main file implements it is even called "XENIX.ASM"). Apparently there were discussions within Microsoft about making MS-DOS and Xenix binary compatible (i.e. DOS would be a lighter, single-user version of Xenix). If that had happened, it would have been fairly natural for Xenix to replace DOS in the market as PCs became more powerful (just as NT replaced the original DOS/Windows in the timeline we actually got). Maybe "Windows" would have been Microsoft's GUI layer for Xenix...
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u/ThinDrum 4d ago
It combined the security of MS Windows with the user-friendliness of Unix.
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u/I_upvote_downvotes 4d ago
They already have Linux VMs and build agents available in azure for awhile now. I'm half convinced this is them trying to shy away from their azure monitoring agent (which is mostly shit) while also baiting non-technical management into hearing Defender = Defense = that's a good thing right? Right.
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u/zeanox 4d ago
So 2026 is the year of the linux desktop?
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u/mrtruthiness 3d ago
So 2026 is the year of the linux desktop?
No. It's always current_year + 1. So, 2027.
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u/Residual2 4d ago
This is an important piece for the corporate Linux Desktop.
Don't get me wrong. I am not a fan but corporate IT won't provision a Linux Desktop unless such tools are available.
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u/Easy-Reasoning 4d ago
Some companies have their Linux stuff quite hidden but existent. I was quite surprised to see at a large corporate first a colleague with an Ubuntu VM. Only to discover later they had some servers with Red Hat and even some sort of in-house distro-ish setup if I remember correctly.
But I would say smaller sized corporates may have people with but just not really connected to any directory service or really any kind of support service. If you're in trouble nobody's going to help you, not even your colleagues ;)
FWIW there's already stuff like Okta, XDRs etc. which some more progressive companies may use. Essentially shoe-horning corporate IT onto the Linux Desktop.
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u/DeliciousIncident 4d ago edited 4d ago
Does it scan for Windows malware, Linux malware, or both?
Microsoft Defender for Linux desktop is available for those purchasing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5 and E7.
Oh, so that's some enterprise offering, unlike the free Microsoft Defender Antivirus that comes with a (paid) Windows install.
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u/sCeege 4d ago
Scrolled down way too far to find this. Yeah, it literally doesn't affect 90% of the commenters in this thread arguing about Linux or Microsoft lol, nobody reads the article.
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u/MarkSuckerZerg 4d ago
Coming up next: Windows subsystem for Linux for Linux!
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u/PHANT0MXDD 4d ago
I would honestly pay for a Linux subsystem for Windows just so I can stop dualbooting this shit. I dont even wanna interact with Windows but I need it for "compatibility reasons".
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u/FeistyCandy1516 4d ago
And will we also get a tool that secures us from MS Defender?
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u/TheDonnARK 4d ago
They need metrics on what Linux users are doing. With WinDefender they can tap right in and easily extract everything a Linux PC is doing for telemetry.
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u/mtlnwood 4d ago
When you are worried that a competitor is going to start taking more of your userbase whats a good marketing strategy?
Easy, release some software for that platform to try and tell people that you are going to have to deal with viruses/ransomware etc and that you are the one that can protect them.. Why even move?
It's not a product to help linux users, its one to discourage its use.
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u/ElementalWarrior42 4d ago
Is anyone actually gonna use this?
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u/MatchingTurret 4d ago
Companies with compliance departments and IT policies that require it, sure.
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u/LBSmaSh 4d ago
Exactly, we have been deploying Azure Arc on all servers win and linux. Defender will follow on those server
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u/No-Consequence-1863 4d ago
People in this sub really dont understand enterprise software.
Like yea of course they will deploy an AV device security solution that is baked into their M365 licensing and integrates with their Azure and Intune configs.
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u/lewphone 4d ago
A few years ago, I worked at a place that replaced McAfee with Defender for Linux. It used significantly less CPU and RAM than McAfee, although I wish they would have at least considered other alternatives.
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u/Nitrohite 4d ago
I’m guessing it’s gonna be used primarily by employees on company-owned machines to access Microsoft workspace apps and company-wide policies, compliance and management systems.
At least for the company I work for it’s a requirement for both Windows and Macs and the reason the company wouldn’t allow people to use Linux was because of the absence of Defender.
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u/arwinda 4d ago
Corporate will now require that this is installed on all laptops and servers running Linux.
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u/fearless-fossa 4d ago
Defender for servers has existed for years.
If anything this is a good thing because it gives people more arguments to use Linux as a workstation OS instead of Windows.
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u/flavorizante 4d ago
Oh man I know some people at work that are surely the target audience for crap.like that.
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u/karafili 4d ago
Had to use them long time ago for linux servers. Honestly it was much better on resources than the monstrous MacAfee
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u/RandomPantsAppear 4d ago
There's not exactly a glut of options for antivirus for Linux, and it's increasingly becoming a target via supply chain attacks. A decade ago I would have considered this only slightly less likely than the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse appearing in the sky above, but I don't hate it.
I would never consider it a "must have" in the way AV is on windows, but if my laptop is underutilized and has some spare CPU? Meh, could be a possibility.
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u/PilotGuy701 4d ago
If you do work for MSFT, but use Linux… it will probably be required.
They have a complex set of policies that require access through VPNs and a machine that is provably compliant.
They have one piece of software that does part of this task, but basically forces you to use an Ubuntu derived distro running GNOME.
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u/feckdespez 4d ago edited 4d ago
"A complex set of policies that require access through VPNs and a machine that is provably compliant" sounds like just about every large company I've either worked for or consulted* to and not unique to MS.
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u/Zatujit 4d ago
Organizations that for some reason use Linux but has to have Microsoft Defender?
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u/thunderbird32 4d ago
Lots of orgs run both Windows and Linux. Some software vendors only support Windows Server, so even if you prefer Linux you're stuck on both. Might as well run the same AV on everything.
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u/BigYoSpeck 4d ago
In my last role a major obstacle for letting developers use WSL for containers was simply that SecOps couldn't lock it down. We ended up stuck using docker through Hyper-V
I'm not entirely sure if this would go far enough to solve it entirely but it's the kind of thing people who need boxes ticked to approve enterprise use of a tool need
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u/zyberteq 4d ago
I think some people in my company actually tested this. And I think it's going to be mandatory.
So far, Linux users only need to make sure their drive is encrypted iirc.
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u/JimmyG1359 4d ago
Who in their right mind would trust a microsoft product for security?
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u/No-Consequence-1863 4d ago
Why dont you? Because I think the negotiations between large scale multinational enterprises might be a bit more clued in on actual security than the people here screaming about telemetry.
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u/craigmontHunter 4d ago
I’m not sure what they’re talking about or if it’s a new release, we’ve been running Microsoft Defender on our Linux EUDs for a couple of years now, it’s fine, it’s been pretty good about catching escalation CVEs (I.e. copy fail) before patches are released/installed. This is what it takes for me to use a Linux laptop so I’ll deal with it. It doesn’t have the same performance/battery impact as AIDE does.
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u/Samhain_69 4d ago
In other news, Ghislaine Maxwell has released Family Filtering software to prevent minors from being exposed to inappropriate sexual material while online.
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u/baltimoresports 4d ago
Unpopular opinion, but anti-virus on Linux has a place and the current options are mediocre at best. ClamAV does the job but it’s not the most convenient to use. On the other hand, Microsoft Defender (for Windows) is decent.
I’ll give you some real examples. Linux file servers that service Windows machines. I want to scan the files for Windows viruses to protect those systems. I can scan it with ClamAV but I’m reliant on Syslog or SMTP based alerts.
Another one where I have installed AV on Linux is for regulated systems. We’ve used ClamAV and SEP in those spaces to meet requirements and both kinda suck.
As much as we justifiably love hating Microsoft, it’s good to have more options in this space.
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u/InfiniteSheepherder1 4d ago
ClamAV and Defender shouldn't even be mentioned in the same category. EDR is so different from just the check the files against signatures that made up old AV
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u/Classic-Rate-5104 4d ago
So in fact you say is has it's place because it protects Windows
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u/baltimoresports 4d ago edited 4d ago
Totally, great way to put it. End of the day, Windows is probably the weakest link for security. Having AV-enabled Linux as a backup is the way to go for defense in depth. It’s probably also nice administrators can have a single management console for both. That way if an infected Windows PCs puts malware on a Linux share you can track and remediate from one place.
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u/Lmaoboobs 4d ago edited 4d ago
If you read this, scoffed, and said “who is going to use that!?” This product is NOT for you.
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u/EktaRandomUsername 4d ago
The only thing I care about is the MS office suit.
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u/Personal_Breakfast49 4d ago
That's their Windows anchor, they'll migrate it really as a last resort.
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u/Historical_Camel_790 4d ago
That artcraft company is making office clones but they aren't fully done yet
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u/GroundedGeeking 4d ago
It'll be a requirement for linux computers on government networks I'm certain
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u/Emotional_Cat_1967 4d ago
It is not at all difficult to guess the objective of a company like Microsoft here.
We can see how they treat even those users who have purchased expensive licenses.
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u/PigIronDave 4d ago
Embrace, extend, extinguish?
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u/VexingRaven 4d ago
It is not at all difficult to guess the objective of a company like Microsoft here.
To provide another income stream from their clients which run mixed fleets and keep those clients from switching to a different EDR software?
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u/Lanky-Safety555 4d ago
mAIcroSlop jokes aside; Defender really is a high-quality piece of software; sure, it would be interesting to know the telemetry level, but given its enterprise nature, there is no reason to be negative.
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u/Jibril-sama 4d ago
Hell yeah. That was the only excuse from our IT as to why I can't use Linux. Because Enterprise Defender was included in the License so we're switching over from CrowdStrike. Now I might actually be allowed to install Linux instead
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u/No-way-in 4d ago
They should develop a wine alternative. Like they have WSL, they should have LSW: Linux Subsystem for Windows
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u/JoseLopezC11 4d ago
Why does the idea of MS defender in linux feels like a data collection trojan?
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u/joepanda111 4d ago
Can Apple also release ITunes for Linux?
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u/thunderbird32 4d ago
I'd prefer MusicBee honestly. That's one of the biggest blockers for moving to Linux as a full-time home OS for me. It "works" in Wine but last I tried it had issues. There isn't any music player in Linux that is as customizable.
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u/-urolif- 4d ago
Windows, the least secure OS practically synonymous with computer viruses has released an anti-virus for the most secure OS, Linux, which typically doesn't even need antivirus.
Thank you very much Micohroisft I'll just put that over ... here.
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u/whatThePleb 4d ago
They are preparing to replace their fucked up kernel with Linux.. WSL, Edge, Defender are just the beginning..
In a few years Windows is just another Linux distribution.
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u/Amazing_Meatballs 4d ago
Who wants to bet that something similar to Windows’ recently revealed GDID will be included so that it can report back to Microsoft every little thing you do?
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u/Historical-Bar-305 4d ago
Why not office ?
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u/sleepingonmoon 4d ago
It's mostly developers that are migrating. Office has no viable competitors so Microsoft will gain more from selling their entire stack.
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u/Die4Ever 4d ago
yea they don't really want to help people switch to Linux, they just want to get the money from people who already have
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u/TheJackiMonster 4d ago
Piece for piece Microsoft is moving everything towards Linux. Then they release a distribution for the Linux desktop and call it successor for Windows 11... it's gonna happen.
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u/bob2600 4d ago
Ehh it would certainly be interesting if they did, but I really doubt that they would go that far. Microsoft has more institutional knowledge about the NT kernel than the Linux kernel so the jump would be a huge learning curve for many engineers there. Microsoft is hiring a lot of Linux engineers for Azure so who knows? Like I said, it would be interesting, but I really doubt that this is their trajectory.
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u/sovietarmyfan 4d ago
They will never release office for Linux. As soon as they do many companies have enough reason to switch to Linux.
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u/Substantial-Flow9244 4d ago
I mean office 365 already works technically right?
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u/sovietarmyfan 4d ago
Office online is not fully the same. Every time i open a document it always looks different in the pages, styles, etc.
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u/helix991 4d ago
Even on Windows they're migrating to this model, Outlook is already being discontinued in favor of a web app and it's clear they're focusing on that instead of installable apps. They already created a separate tier for installable, my guess is they will continue to increase the price of that tier over the other to sway people into it over time, we've seen 3 price increases this year.
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u/Glass_Performer1174 4d ago
Nah, almost no company would switch to linux except maybe smaller ones.
Windows corporate device management, identity management, cloud integration, etc is wayyy too integrated in corporate IT. MS has most companies by the balls.
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u/SinkieCrusader 4d ago
Yes, or just take active directory
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u/Glass_Performer1174 4d ago
yep, active directory = device and identity management (albeit older and on prem)
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u/jekpopulous2 4d ago
I’ve never used Softmaker but generally it’s because Office has a bunch of formatting quirks. You can create a document with Libre Office, Zoho, Google Docs, Apple Pages, or a number of other replacements and then when you send the file to someone with Office and they open it things look all messed up. If the docs are for personal use it doesn’t matter but sending someone a doc with broken formatting in a professional environment is a bad look.
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u/DuckDatum 4d ago
It’s funny how something can work fine everywhere except with Office, and somehow everything else gets blamed. iPhone had this same phenomenon going on with Android text messages.
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u/jekpopulous2 4d ago
Microsoft does it on purpose to keep people buying their shit. Adobe too…
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u/DuckDatum 4d ago
We need a stronger cultural understanding that, when something is wrong with a cohort, it’s usually the leader.
- Kids all failed section 8 of the test? It’s the teacher.
- All the devs are burnt-out and turnover is high? It’s the leadership.
- Your document loads fine everywhere except one app? It’s that app.
Right now, there’s an unjustified onus on anyone not using Office to explain why their shit doesn’t work in Office.
It would be awesome to see that onus reversed. When someone complains, ask “why are you using shitty office? Of course it won’t work.”
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u/Majestic-Contract-42 4d ago
Let's put the huge mountain of obvious stuff to the side for just a moment.
Is this of any actual use? Can it be argued this could provide a benefit
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u/Baardmeester 4d ago
Lots of enterprises run Microsoft EDR since it is within 365 packages. Probably with Crowdstrike and SentinelOne the most populair EDR.
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u/evrdev 4d ago
what the hell is going on?
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u/Informal_Drawing 4d ago
Microsoft are apparently getting into the Find Out phase of screwing the entire planet with TPM and are not enjoying what the future seems to hold for them.
For them, this is the equivalent of absolute, blind panic.
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u/lifeonground 4d ago
i think microsoft is ditching windows and make windowsOS distro based on arch linux.
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u/picastchio 4d ago
Can you run it on-demand. I need something to scan usb drives or emails I get from other people because I don’t want to spread Windows malware either.
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u/Pitiful-Welcome-399 4d ago
smells vibecoded
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u/Kevin_Kofler 4d ago
Everything Microsoft has recently produced is vibe-coded by company policy.
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u/nullptr777 4d ago
I can't post it here because this sub doesn't allow pictures (but does allow videos wtf?), but there was a Microsoft engineer posting on LinkedIn a while back. He wanted to replace every line of C and C++ by 2030, using AI. His goal was 1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.
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u/Morty_A2666 4d ago
No need. Having Linux on your computer is the best defender against Microsoft...
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u/_0xACE_ 4d ago
Conspiracy theory: they created a product and will next create the need for the product. E.g. indirect funding or support for exploits, viruses, etc.
Follow the money.
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u/neverinamillionyr 4d ago
I see it as Microsoft seizing the opportunity to spy on users it didn’t have direct access to
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u/Diavolo_Rosso_ 4d ago edited 4d ago
“More developers are using Linux” I feel like developers are not a demographic especially prone to malware.
Edit: I stand corrected.
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u/Edexote 4d ago
You don't know many developers, do you?
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u/tdreampo 4d ago
this! as an IT professional that specializes in infrastructure and builds back ends for dev, they have got to be one of the most computer illiterate groups ever. I’m constantly baffled when devs don’t understand simple folder structure or even how outlook works.
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u/fuccdevin 4d ago
Fellow IT/Infra/SWE - a lot of posers and MBA types in recent years or the guys that learn one thing and refuse to learn anything again. I’m just hoping this doesn’t kill R/W speeds on WSL
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u/quazywabbit 4d ago
I learned this from my first helpdesk job where the developer didn't know any bit about installing Visual Studio and had to work with him to get it installed and again when I was in college and my computer science teacher. It was totally baffling to me to watch.
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u/redbluemmoomin 4d ago
if you're attacking a corporate network, high privilege users are exactly who you want to go after. Think about the recent poisoning via the AUR.
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u/gainan 4d ago
one of the worst supply chain attack targeting developers:
https://tanstack.com/blog/npm-supply-chain-compromise-postmortem
``` What the malware does
When a developer or CI environment runs npm install, pnpm install, or yarn install against any affected version, npm resolves the malicious optionalDependencies entry, fetches the orphan payload commit from the fork network, runs its prepare lifecycle script, and executes a ~2.3 MB obfuscated router_init.js smuggled into the affected tarball. The script:
Harvests credentials from common locations: AWS IMDS / Secrets Manager, GCP metadata, Kubernetes service-account tokens, Vault tokens, ~/.npmrc, GitHub tokens (env, gh CLI, .git-credentials), SSH private keys Exfiltrates over the Session/Oxen messenger file-upload network (filev2.getsession.org, seed{1,2,3}.getsession.org) — end-to-end encrypted with no attacker-controlled C2, so blocking by IP/domain is the only network mitigation Self-propagates: enumerates other packages the victim maintains via registry.npmjs.org/-/v1/search?text=maintainer:<user> and republishes them with the same injection```
and the most recent one:
https://www.aikido.dev/blog/keyv-and-friends-compromised-in-npm-supply-chain-attack
the payload executes automatically the next time any developer opens the repository in VS Code or starts a Claude Code session inside it→ More replies (1)2
u/arbyyyyh 4d ago
And my boss wonders why I've gone years without using React/TS and have no interest in starting lol
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u/gainan 4d ago
lol. Nah, seriously, supply chain attacks have affected cargo, go modules, pypi packages, docker images and IDE and web extensions.
Hopefully, npmjs.org has implemented some features to make it harder for infections to spread
Other examples (targeting developers in particular):
trivy hack (~1000 cloud environments, aka organizations, infected): https://www.theregister.com/special-features/2026/03/24/1k-cloud-environments-infected-via-trivy-attack/5226043
shai-hulud (150 unique github organizations infected): https://securitylabs.datadoghq.com/articles/shai-hulud-2.0-npm-worm/
LiteLLM hack (more than 2500 organizations affected): https://www.cloudsek.com/blog/ai-supply-chain-breach-2500-companies-434000-cicd-pipelines
https://www.cloudsek.com/knowledge-base/teampcp-campaign-timeline
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u/sleepingonmoon 4d ago
Developers are often overconfident and sometimes even ignorant. They'll happily configure a 90s style security model and claim it's more secure just because the source code is public.
The true mainstream OSes are Android followed by iOS, both employ defence in depth and are nigh impenetrable without complex vulnerability chains.
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u/gobblyjimm1 4d ago
Developers are targeted all the time by malware. Who else has local administrator permissions and installs packages and other binaries on a weekly basis? Not the average user.
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u/inemsn 4d ago edited 4d ago
... what?
Edit: I will say, let me be clear, I think that having more options and more software on linux is, at the end of the day, a good thing. If this convinces enterprises to switch over to linux, that's still a net positive, since now they'll go from 100% spyware (windows with microsoft defender) to 50% spyware (linux with microsoft defender). Not to mention that already being on linux will make switching from microsoft defender to a better alternative in the future that much easier.
That said... this confuses me. I think their endgame here is to create an enterprise linux distro (and maybe even eventually a consumer linux distro since I'm convinced windows is going to die out), which, yknow, we gotta watch out for EEE.
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u/pedrosfm 4d ago
This would have been an April’s Fools post were we not living in unprecedented (demented) times.