One of the most important feature sets on an operating system today would have to be the security options
Windows Server 20 19 has improved on the features of Windows Defender at the local machine level and
added a whole new dimension to threat protection detection and response the local installation of Windows
Defender has more options and more protection than previous versions.
This is a Windows 2019 server.
In fact it's the one that we configured at the very beginning of the course.
But you can see these on any Windows Server 20 19 installation.
If I click on the start menu and select Windows security we can see categories that match things that
you would expect from many third party malware and personal firewall products.
This is already a better start than what we had in Server 2016.
If I click on virus in threat protection I can scroll down and see that there's even a piece specifically
designed to combat ransomware those nasty pieces of malware that steal or block access to your proprietary
data and demand payment to release that information or access to your system generally.
Here you can go and manage this protection by specifying folders and applications that are allowed to
access folders in an effort to stop ransomware from gaining access to your data to begin with.
You didn't have this level of control on previous versions of Windows Defender.
This is an example of Microsoft responding to evolving threats and bundling these security features
right into the Windows server operating system these local security enhancements are not the real upgrade
to the local security however in late 2016 Microsoft introduced a cloud based service that they called
Advanced Threat Protection or ATP one of the biggest challenges that people were facing with their security
software was keeping it current.
The more machines you want to protect the harder this becomes.
Multiple servers multiple workstations multiple sites it's a lot to keep track of Advanced Threat Protection
addresses this by centralizing the task of interpreting the heuristic data and defining the response
to threats.
This centralized malware intelligence is managed monitored and controlled through the use of a web based
portal the scanners are on each individual machine so that real time data can be harvested.
But the real intelligence is in a secure cloud tenant.
This tenant is able to interpret the information from the scans to determine not only the type of threat
but the scope of the problem as well ATP access is Microsoft's malware researchers and can use artificial
intelligence to quickly design appropriate responses when this was introduced for Windows 10 workstations
and Windows 2016 servers a download was required for each endpoint and they were individually licensed
Windows Server 20 19 has the endpoint built right into the operating system.
Now depending on the type of Azure subscription you have there will be some type of cost to setup and
use the ATP tenant.
But the ability to scan report and respond to advanced threats is now included in addition to consistent
and more quickly updated protection.
Think of the processing power that you'll save on each server in today's server farms with dozens or
even hundreds of virtual servers.
Even a small savings per machine can add up quickly this advanced threat protection as an evolutionary
step for Windows Defender is one of the most noteworthy security enhancements in Windows Server 2019.