Microsoft is making it easier for IT admins to onboard devices to Defender

Cybersecurity is typically a fundamental building block of most organizations, which is why many use third-party tooling to secure their infrastructure against external threats. Firms which leverage mostly Windows devices tend to gravitate towards Microsoft's tech stack, because it is also capable of protecting other endpoints in a heterogeneous environment. For those customers, Microsoft has now announced a new onboarding experience in the Defender deployment tool.

The Defender deployment tool is the utility of choice for many organizations as it automates the onboarding process for all sorts of devices through a single executable (.exe) file rather than relying on IT admins running multiple scripts on endpoints and configuring them manually. This tool caters to both modern and legacy devices and adapts dynamically to various operating systems, not just Windows.

The updated onboarding experience is designed to be transparent and non-interactive, so it can work seamlessly with large-scale deployments. Microsoft has also included the ability to add custom identifiers so that you can trace the packages across your environment. Interestingly, an expiry deadline starting from one day and going up to one year can also be set, along with customizable name identifiers and keys. Finally, the Redmond tech giant is offering new entry points for the Defender portal while also making it easier to find guidance related to onboarding and offboarding by integrating it directly into the device inventory page.

Since the packages now contain a lot of identifiers, they also offer a more in-depth view into telemetry so that IT admins can monitor endpoint health status and rectify errors, if needed. Microsoft plans to add even more telemetry information to the Defender portal in the future. It's also worth noting that the Defender deployment tool is also available for Linux.

The latest improvements will likely be welcomed by IT admins and security personnel as they provide more transparency and customizability, both of which are enticing capabilities in large-scale deployments.