To get the most out of this book
You’ll want licensing to Microsoft 365 Defender, typically obtained with Microsoft 365 E5 or Microsoft 365 E5 Security. Trial licenses are an option, as is the Microsoft 365 E5 Developer license, but please note that one does not include Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. You can deploy Microsoft Defender for Endpoint using tools such as Group Policy, Intune, or Configuration Manager, so consider having one of those available.
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management add-on capabilities also have a trial available.
An Azure subscription, including a trial subscription, will also help as you explore Microsoft Defender for Servers.
On-premises or cloud-hosted Active Directory Domain Services will be required for Microsoft Defender for Identity.
If you have them available, Enterprise versions of cloud apps such as Dropbox will be useful for experimenting with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. Dropbox, at the time of writing, has a trial available for when you want to test out things such as session policies.
The network requirements for Microsoft 365 Defender vary by its subcomponents and are likely to change over time. The same goes for the supported operating systems. If you run into any problems, you should reference Microsoft’s official network and support documentation.
Software/hardware covered in the book |
Operating system requirements |
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint |
Windows 7 SP1 – Windows 11; Windows Server 2012 R2 or later; macOS (last three versions); Linux servers; iOS/iPadOS and Android phones |
Microsoft Defender for Servers |
Windows Server 2012 R2 or later; Linux servers |
Microsoft Defender for Identity |
Active Directory Domain Services; optionally Active Directory Federation Services |
Consider following and reaching out to the authors on Twitter (twitter.com/rucam365 and twitter.com/headburgh to keep up to date with Microsoft 365 Defender changes over time. The product never sits still!
Some files relevant to the book are also available on GitHub: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Mastering-Microsoft-365-Defender.