Update Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and MDM policy to newest version

Originally posted by Microsoft Apr 26, 2022 Microsoft 365 Apps 0 Comments

We want to let you know that running very old versions of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) can result in an invalid agent state and loss of protection. Mobile device management (MDM) previously configured to deploy very old MDE version may expose your organization to the risk of the invalid agent state and protection loss.

If you do not have macOS and Linux devices in your environments, you can disregard this message.

What you need to do to prepare:

Review the following recommendations to assess potential impact on your current configuration or end user education.

• Check your Mac devices to ensure that (MAU) is enabled, and devices are getting updated
• When onboarding a new device, download the MDE package from the Microsoft 365 portal and avoid using previously downloaded packages
• Check your MDM policies regularly to ensure you are pushing the updated version MDE from the Microsoft 365 portal.
• Due to series of recent breaking changes, ensure you never push a version older than:
  • Linux 101.62.74
  • Mac 101.61.69
• Ensure that your MDM is configured to ignore the app version if MDE is already installed on the devices.
• On your macOS devices, configure Microsoft Auto Update (MAU) to deliver updates automatically

Learn more:

For all new changes across versions of MDE (Mac), please review Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

Linux: To update to the latest Microsoft Defender for Endpoint version listed in What’s new in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Linux:

macOS: To update to the latest Microsoft Defender for Endpoint version listed in What’s new in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac:

• Use the update command based on your distributions package manager.
  • See, Deploy updates for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Linux for details.

• Enable Microsoft Auto Update.
  • See, Deploy updates for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS for details.

Note: To download and apply the package, visit the onboarding section of the security center portal for your respective Operating Software.

For additional information on what’s new and how to install, please review Onboard non-Windows devices.

Message ID: MC364310