Important
Microsoft Defender for Business is now in preview, and will roll out gradually to customers and IT Partners who sign-up here to request it. We will onboard an initial set of customers and partners in the coming weeks and will expand the preview leading up to general availability. Note that preview will launch with an initial set of scenarios, and we will be adding capabilities regularly.
Some information in this article relates to prereleased products/services that might be substantially modified before they are commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, for the information provided here.
Microsoft Defender for Business (preview) is a new endpoint security solution that was designed especially for the small and medium-sized business (up to 300 employees). With this endpoint security solution, your company’s devices are better protected from ransomware, malware, phishing, and other threats.
This article describes what’s included in Defender for Business (preview), with links to learn more about these features and capabilities.
Note
Not all capabilities are available during preview.
With Defender for Business (preview), you can help protect the devices and data your business uses with:
- Enterprise-grade security. Defender for Business (preview) brings powerful endpoint security capabilities from our industry-leading Microsoft Defender for Endpoint solution and optimizes those capabilities for IT administrators to support small and medium-sized businesses.
- An easy-to-use security solution. Defender for Business (preview) offers streamlined experiences that guide you to action with recommendations and insights into the security of your endpoints. No specialized knowledge is required, because Defender for Business (preview) offers wizard-driven configuration and default security policies that are designed to help protect your company’s devices from day one.
- Flexibility for your environment. Defender for Business (preview) can work with your business environment, whether you are using the Microsoft Cloud, on-premises technology, or non-Microsoft productivity solutions. Defender for Business (preview) works with components that are built into Windows, and with apps for macOS, iOS, and Android devices.
- Integration with Microsoft 365 Lighthouse. If you’re a Managed Service Provider (MSP) using Microsoft 365 Lighthouse, more capabilities are available. If your customers are using Microsoft 365 Business Premium together with Defender for Business (preview), you can view security incidents and alerts across customer tenants that are onboarded to Microsoft 365 Lighthouse.
Tip
If you would like to sign up for the Microsoft Defender for Business preview program, visit https://aka.ms/MDB-Preview. To learn more, see Get Microsoft Defender for Business (preview).
How to use this guide
This guide is intended to:
- Provide you with an overview of Defender for Business (preview) so you know what’s included and how it works
- Use this article as a starting point
- Compare security features in Microsoft Defender for Business (preview) to other plans
- Find out how to get Microsoft Defender for Business (preview)
- Walk through setting up and configuring your threat protection capabilities
- Help you get started using Defender for Business (preview), starting with the Microsoft 365 Defender portal
- Provide guidance on managing devices and security policies and settings