Introduction
In today's threat landscape protecting all your servers is critical, particularly with human-operated and sophisticated ransomware attacks becoming more prevalent. Our mission for endpoint protection is to cover all endpoints regardless of platform, clients, and servers, and inclusive of mobile, IoT and network devices. Today, we are extending protections in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint that are already available for Windows Server 2019 and later to Windows Server 2012R2 and 2016.
Introducing our modern, unified solution for Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016
We are proud to introduce the public preview of a completely revamped Microsoft Defender for Endpoint solution stack for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016. Whilst keeping up to date and upholding security hygiene is arguably still the best go-to when it comes to increasing resilience and reducing attack surface, we believe this modern, unified solution brings the best of the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint capabilities for prevention, detection, and response - in a single package.
This new unified solution package reduces complexity by removing dependencies and installation steps. It also standardizes capabilities and functionality as it brings a very high level of parity with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Windows Server 2019:
Aside from having no specific client prerequisites or dependencies, the solution is functionally equivalent to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Windows Server 2019; meaning, all environment requirements around connectivity are the same and you can use the same Group Policy, PowerShell commands and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager* to manage configuration. The solution does not use or require the installation of the Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA).
Improving resiliency against human-operated ransomware attacks
To avoid security controls, we have often seen attackers leveraging machines with older operating systems inside our client’s environments. As such, the endpoint visibility required to detect and prevent modern-day ransomware attacks was at the center of many of our design decisions for this release.
Specifically, we modeled across the MITRE tactics which we felt provides the best chances of early alerting and emphasized capturing actionable telemetry across these. Some areas include:
- Initial Access: Servers are often the first point of entry for motivated attackers. The ability to monitor signs of entry via publicly facing, vulnerable services is critical.
- Credential Access: Servers often contain sensitive credentials in memory from Administrator maintenance or other activities. Enhanced memory protections help identify potential credential theft activities.
- Lateral Movement: Improved user logon activity allows better mapping of attempted movement across the network to or from Servers
- Defense Evasion: Improved hardening via tampering protection provides security controls the best chance of preventing Ransomware’s most harmful effects on high value assets, such as Servers.
Next steps
You can start testing today by simply visiting the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. If you have enabled preview features, you can download the installation and onboarding packages from the new onboarding page:
- Before installation, please ensure your machines are fully updated and continue to apply the latest component updates containing important security improvements and bug fixes. For the EDR sensor on Windows Server 2012 R2 & 2016, we now have a new update package available: KB5005292.
- On Windows Server 2016, verify that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is installed, is active and up to date. You can download and install the latest platform version using Windows Update. Alternatively, download the update package manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog or from the Antimalware and cyber security portal.
- Ensure you meet all connectivity requirements; they match those for Windows Server 2019.
- You can now use the Group Policy templates for Windows Server 2019 to manage Defender on Windows Server 2012 R2 & 2016.
- Please take a look at New functionality in the modern unified solution for Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016 Preview for known issues and limitations.
*If you have previously onboarded your servers using the Microsoft Monitoring Agent (MMA) either manually or though Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, follow the guidance provided in Server migration for helpful steps to help you to migrate to the new solution. Note that full integration with Azure Defender for Servers will be available at a later time.
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