Mar 23, 2011 Apple's changing of the Mac OS X guard: Time to take stock as iOS leads. Apple on Wednesday said that Bertrand Serlet, the father of the Mac OS X, will leave the company after 22 years. Adguard is the world's first standalone ad blocker for Mac OS X. It is an ultimate program has all the features to ensure more efficient and comfortable use of the Internet. Ad blocking, phishing. This document is a Mac OS X manual page. Manual pages are a command-line technology for providing documentation. You can view these manual pages locally using the man(1) command. These manual pages come from many different sources, and thus, have a variety of writing styles.

Hey, Mac users! Missed us? We are coming back with a great update! Please, meet AdGuard v2.5 for Mac. A small intro first.

Privacy is in high demand

Following a worldwide modern trend towards privacy protection, Apple announced its new macOS Big Sur with 3 cornerstone features: refined design, increased efficiency and ‘even more transparency around your privacy’. So privacy protection is a big deal now and is widely acknowledged by the market’s leaders, such as Apple.

Our AdGuard v2.5 for Mac version is specifically designed to cooperate seamlessly with the new macOS 11 (Big Sur). We have resolved many compatibility problems and added new gorgeous app icons that suit new OS style.

System Extensions will replace Kernel in Big Sur

First of all, what are System Extensions? It all started in 2019 when Apple decided to minimize the amount of operations executed in Kernel. The old framework — Kernel Extensions — would no longer be of use. As an alternative, Apple offered System Extensions, and specifically Network Extensions as a framework to run apps that filter traffic.

Network Extensions

MacOS 11 (Big Sur) will no longer support the old Kernel Extensions (for the most part), so we added support for the new framework. If you're already on Big Sur preview, please make sure your AdGuard works in Network Extensions mode: open AdGuard's menu -> Select Preferences... -> Network -> Select Mode.... 'Kernel Extension' mode should be grayed out, and 'Network Extension' mode should be selected.

Unfortunately, Network Extensions is a relatively new feature, which means it is only to be further bugfixed and updated. It was shortly introduced as a replacement for Kernel Extensions (first appeared in this role in macOS 10.15) and now Apple is actively developing and improving it. However, there are still many issues in different branches associated with Network Extensions. If you're facing any, please check out our problem solving guide.

What's left?

The second major feature in this update is Upstream Proxy which is now locked and loaded. With this feature you can add your custom proxy server into settings and run it with AdGuard VPN. We also fixed many bugs and updated CoreLibs to v1.7.111 for enhanced filtering. As usual, the full list of changes can be found on GitHub. We can't wait to have your feedback! Feel free to leave comments in the comment section below 👇

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Applies to:

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This topic describes how to install, configure, update, and use Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

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Caution

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Running other third-party endpoint protection products alongside Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac is likely to lead to performance problems and unpredictable side effects. If non-Microsoft endpoint protection is an absolute requirement in your environment, you can still safely take advantage of Defender for Endpoint on Mac EDR functionality after configuring the antivirus functionality to run in Passive mode.

What’s new in the latest release

Tip

If you have any feedback that you would like to share, submit it by opening Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac on your device and navigating to Help > Send feedback.

To get the latest features, including preview capabilities (such as endpoint detection and response for your Mac devices), configure your macOS device running Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to be an 'Insider' device.

How to install Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac

Prerequisites

  • A Defender for Endpoint subscription and access to the Microsoft Defender Security Center portal
  • Beginner-level experience in macOS and BASH scripting
  • Administrative privileges on the device (in case of manual deployment)

Installation instructions

There are several methods and deployment tools that you can use to install and configure Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

  • Third-party management tools:

  • Command-line tool:

System requirements

The three most recent major releases of macOS are supported.

Important

On macOS 11 (Big Sur), Microsoft Defender for Endpoint requires additional configuration profiles. If you are an existing customer upgrading from earlier versions of macOS, make sure to deploy the additional configuration profiles listed on New configuration profiles for macOS Catalina and newer versions of macOS.

Important

Support for macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) has been discontinued as of February 15th, 2021.

  • 11 (Big Sur), 10.15 (Catalina), 10.14 (Mojave)
  • Disk space: 1GB

Beta versions of macOS are not supported.

macOS devices with M1 processors are not supported.

After you've enabled the service, you may need to configure your network or firewall to allow outbound connections between it and your endpoints.

Licensing requirements

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac requires one of the following Microsoft Volume Licensing offers:

  • Microsoft 365 E5 (M365 E5)
  • Microsoft 365 E5 Security
  • Microsoft 365 A5 (M365 A5)

Note

Eligible licensed users may use Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on up to five concurrent devices.Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is also available for purchase from a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP). When purchased via a CSP, it does not require Microsoft Volume Licensing offers listed.

Network connections

The following downloadable spreadsheet lists the services and their associated URLs that your network must be able to connect to. You should ensure that there are no firewall or network filtering rules that would deny access to these URLs, or you may need to create an allow rule specifically for them.

Spreadsheet of domains listDescription

Spreadsheet of specific DNS records for service locations, geographic locations, and OS.
Download the spreadsheet here: mdatp-urls.xlsx.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can discover a proxy server by using the following discovery methods:

  • Proxy autoconfig (PAC)
  • Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol (WPAD)
  • Manual static proxy configuration

If a proxy or firewall is blocking anonymous traffic, make sure that anonymous traffic is permitted in the previously listed URLs.

Mac

Warning

Authenticated proxies are not supported. Ensure that only PAC, WPAD, or a static proxy is being used.

SSL inspection and intercepting proxies are also not supported for security reasons. Configure an exception for SSL inspection and your proxy server to directly pass through data from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on macOS to the relevant URLs without interception. Adding your interception certificate to the global store will not allow for interception.

To test that a connection is not blocked, open https://x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/api/report and https://cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/ping in a browser.

If you prefer the command line, you can also check the connection by running the following command in Terminal:

The output from this command should be similar to the following:

OK https://x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/api/report

The Guard Mac Os Catalina

OK https://cdn.x.cp.wd.microsoft.com/ping

The Guard Mac Os X

Caution

We recommend that you keep System Integrity Protection (SIP) enabled on client devices. SIP is a built-in macOS security feature that prevents low-level tampering with the OS, and is enabled by default.

Once Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is installed, connectivity can be validated by running the following command in Terminal:

How to update Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac

Microsoft regularly publishes software updates to improve performance, security, and to deliver new features. To update Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac, a program named Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) is used. To learn more, see Deploy updates for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

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How to configure Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac

Guidance for how to configure the product in enterprise environments is available in Set preferences for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

macOS kernel and system extensions

In alignment with macOS evolution, we are preparing a Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac update that leverages system extensions instead of kernel extensions. For relevant details, see What's new in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

Resources

  • For more information about logging, uninstalling, or other topics, see Resources for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac.

  • Privacy for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac.