Microsoft’s Windows 7, 8.1 To Have Defender Advanced Threat Protection

According to the news on ZedNet, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) will be available for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. It was revealed by Microsoft officials how they planned to make it available for general availability for 2018. On February 2019, Microsoft officials blogged that Windows Defender ATP Endpoint Protection was now generally available for Windows 7 and 8.1.

There was no clarification from Microsoft on why the delay in the release of the ATP. The February 22 blog post announcing availability noted that since public preview, Microsoft has been working with the customer to “validate, finetune and refine the service.” Update: A company spokesperson said that the statement in the blog is all that Microsoft will share on the timing.

Windows Defender ATP

What we know about this is that it can help provide attack detection and investigation on supported Windows versions. Preventative protection is the primary thing for Windows Defender ATP, it also takes care of post-breach detection and automated investigation and response. In addition to Windows 10, the current list of supported Windows client versions now includes Windows 7 Service Pack (SP) 1 Enterprise; Windows 7 SP1 Pro; Windows 8.1 Enterprise and Windows 8.1 Pro.

Windows Defender ATP is built into Windows 10 Enterprise, and it is different from Windows Defender. This Microsoft’s free antivirus service is bundled into various Windows versions. Defender ATP (codenamed “Seville”) is a post-breach service, to help detect threats that have bypassed other defenses, give users means to investigate breaches and offer suggested responses.

According to Microsoft Windows Defender, ATP is a suite of tools, which includes Defender Application Guard, Defender Device Guard, and Defender Antivirus.

ZedNet mentions that Microsoft is planning to drop support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020, but will continue to provide security updates to customers who purchase Extended Security. Microsoft will charge users who want to buy Extended Security Updates per device and will charge those running Windows 7 Pro more than Windows 7 Enterprise.