The Windows Defender anti-virus and anti-malware application is now available for Linux. This is very easy to install on Ubuntu. I am using Ubuntu 18.04 and it works a treat.
Before installation, ensure you have the required packages installed.
sudo apt install gpg apt-transport-https libplist-utils |
To begin the installation, we need to add repository information.
Download the appropriate repository information. Find the appropriate file here that is correct for your Linux distribution. This is important.
4.4 Thu Jun 25 jason@Yog-Sothoth 0: $ curl -o microsoft.list https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/insiders-fast.list |
Then copy this file to the proper location.
4.4 Thu Jun 25 jason@Yog-Sothoth 0: $ sudo mv ./microsoft.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft-18.04.list |
Then add the proper GPG key to allow the installation of the package.
4.4 Thu Jun 25 jason@Yog-Sothoth 0: $ curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add - |
Then, it should be fine to update package repositories with the new information.
4.4 Thu Jun 25 jason@Yog-Sothoth 0: $ sudo apt-get update |
After all of that, the Microsoft Defender application should install.
4.4 Thu Jun 25 jason@Yog-Sothoth 0: $ sudo apt-get install mdatp Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: libclang-common-9-dev libllvm9 libllvm9:i386 Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. The following additional packages will be installed: auditd libauparse0 Suggested packages: audispd-plugins The following NEW packages will be installed: auditd libauparse0 mdatp 0 to upgrade, 3 to newly install, 0 to remove and 17 not to upgrade. Need to get 16.5 MB of archives. After this operation, 52.0 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y Get:1 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/18.04/prod insiders-fast/main amd64 mdatp amd64 101.00.75-insiderfast [16.3 MB] Get:2 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 libauparse0 amd64 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1 [48.6 kB] Get:3 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 auditd amd64 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1 [194 kB] Fetched 16.5 MB in 5s (3,127 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package libauparse0:amd64. (Reading database ... 645471 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../libauparse0_1%3a2.8.2-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libauparse0:amd64 (1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1) ... Selecting previously unselected package auditd. Preparing to unpack .../auditd_1%3a2.8.2-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking auditd (1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1) ... Selecting previously unselected package mdatp. Preparing to unpack .../mdatp_101.00.75-insiderfast_amd64.deb ... Unpacking mdatp (101.00.75-insiderfast) ... Setting up libauparse0:amd64 (1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1) ... Setting up auditd (1:2.8.2-1ubuntu1) ... Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/auditd.service → /lib/systemd/system/auditd.service. Setting up mdatp (101.00.75-insiderfast) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ... |
Once it is installed, it will be used via the command line.
$ mdatp scan Expected one of: cancel Cancel in-progress scan custom Start custom scan full Start full system scan quick Start quick scan |
This application does require a license, but it will run without one.
4.4 Thu Jun 25 jason@Yog-Sothoth 0: $ mdatp scan quick ATTENTION: No license found. Contact your administrator for help. Scan has finished 486516 file(s) scanned 0 threat(s) detected |
But this is very interesting, Microsoft is writing software for Linux now. Are they trying to replace Linux software with Windows and take over Linux that way? Replace it with Microsoft Linux? But this does work well, and there is nothing wrong with having anti-virus software installed. I wonder if they will port Microsoft Edge to Linux. But we already have the Chromium browser so why bother. This is the beginning, but I am not sure what it is yet. We will have to watch and wait to see what happens in the future concerning Microsoft involvement in open-source software.
