Microsoft Defender is now available for Linux desktops.
Shocked? In 2026, you shouldn’t be. Microsoft’s down with the penguins these days: there’s a Linux kernel in Windows, it owns GitHub and makes Edge for Linux (not that too many people use it).
Why not some rootin’-tootin’, threat-detectin’ n’ virus-protectin’ software on top, eh?
Name: Microsoft Defender for Linux.
Age: Public preview, so, pass?
Appearance: A line item on an E5 invoice.
What is it? Microsoft’s security suite, now available for Linux desktops (albeit in a public preview).
Microsoft’s security suite. On Linux…. Where have you been? Defender has been available for Linux servers since 2020. Desktops were inevitable.
Why now? Microsoft says as “more developers begin to use Linux desktops” (begin?!) their devices become a target for attackers – but easy for company IT bods to overlook. Hence their pitch to “close that visibility gap”.
Fair enough. Does it run on Ubuntu? LTS releases only: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS through 26.04 LTS on Intel/AMD desktops, and 20.04 to 26.04 on Arm64.
—16.04? Any Linux server and kernel combo Defender already supports is on the desktop guest list. Debian, Fedora, RHEL, SLES, Rocky and, yes, ye olde Ubuntu LTS’ – doing their thing, hanging on via Ubuntu Pro’s ever-extending support periods.
How do I install it? You don’t. Your employer does. Rather, can. A standalone Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, or Microsoft 365 E5 or E7 is needed to use this. If reading that sentence left you looking blank, hurrah: proof this news won’t be fuel for the EEE truthers.
Let’s say I wanted this, can I buy it for my own laptop? Er, you’d need to talk to a Microsoft salesperson to find out more, I guess. This isn’t a shrink-wrapped product for home users.
How does my employer get it? It’s a preview, so they might not want to. If they are brave, they can – *puts on reading glasses, adopts LinkedIn voice* – “onboard eligible Linux workstations using any of the existing deployment methods”.
Is there an actual app? Not really, no. Desktops devices appear in the company’s admin portal alongside their Linux machines, be it a sever, a data centre stack or a battered, bruised and heavily stickered ThinkPad on an engineer’s desk
Thing is, I heard Linux doesn’t need antivirus. Is that true? Oh boy, here we go…
Do say: “Linux desktops are important enough to make an enterprise security roadmap!”
Don’t say: “Is it available as a snap yet?”