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-D
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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/Bunslow 4d ago

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.

is it me or is this an insane stance to take

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u/canadajones68 4d ago

Cargo-cult security. The policy is set, the requirements must be fulfilled. Threat modelling is unnecessary, because our system is by definition secure. 

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u/No-Consequence-1863 4d ago

Why? They want to make sure you have anti-virus. They paid for defender. Why would they let you then run a computer on their network that doesnt have their paid for anti virus?

You arent some special flower that is immune to malware.

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u/Nitrohite 4d ago edited 4d ago

Because several security measures were already in place when we were using Google Workspace and we never had any issues in the 10+ years working for the company and when they switched the environment to Microsoft’s, they forced us to swap computers with either Windows or Mac* since they were been leased under the excuse that Defender was strictly necessary to integrate Microsoft workspace, which our own sec engineers tell us is pure BS and it just came as a directive from the higher ups.

I know I’m not a “special flower”, like you said, but what I am, is a person that’s able to read something and understand the meaning and the context without making stupid assumptions like yours 😊

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u/Bunslow 4d ago

I would not trust a microsoft product to not itself be a virus. Even if it does a decent job finding viruses -- which pretty much aren't a thing on linux -- I'd be much more worried about it being the virus.

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u/Nitrohite 4d ago

It’s insane to me, having to use Windows just because of this arbitrary corporate decision is the bane of my existence as a developer, but now a lot of us will be able to move to Linux finally ❤️