With Windows 10 we built the most secure Windows ever, by hardening the platform itself and by developing Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) – a unified endpoint security platform that helps stop breaches. This means that for the first time we’ve built threat and exploit protection, and Endpoint Detection & Response right into the operating system, powered by the cloud. We hear from our customers security is one of the biggest motivators for their move to Windows 10. Meanwhile, we know that while in their transition, some may have a mix of Windows 10 and Windows 7 devices in their environments. We want to help our customers achieve the best security possible on their way to Windows 10 ahead of the
end of support for Windows 7 in January 2020.
That’s why today, we are pleased to announce that we are adding Windows Defender ATP down-level support for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1.
Starting this summer, customers moving to Windows 10 can add Windows Defender ATP Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) functionality to their Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 devices, and get a holistic view across their endpoints.
“Security is the main driver to get current and stay current with Windows 10. It’s great to see Microsoft helping customers better protect our environment with WDATP support for Windows 7 during this transition.”
— Matt Cochran, Manager Information Systems, Hendrick Motorsports
For Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, we are building a behavioral based EDR solution to give security teams rich insights into threats on their endpoints. All detections and events are surfaced in Windows Defender Security Center, the cloud-based console for Windows Defender ATP. Security teams benefit from correlated alerts for known and unknown adversaries, additional threat intelligence, and a detailed machine timeline for further investigations and manual response options.
Although this solution can run side-by-side with third-party antivirus solutions, it is better together with Windows Defender Antivirus (also known as System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP) for down-level). With Windows Defender Antivirus, security teams can see all malware detections and trigger response actions to prevent the spread of malware, in the same console.
