Better together: Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Office 365

Applies to:

Platforms

You might already know that:

Microsoft Defender Antivirus protects your Windows device from software threats, such as viruses, malware, and spyware. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is your complete, ongoing protection, built into Windows 10 and Windows 11, and ready to go. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is your next-generation protection.
Office 365 includes anti-malware, anti-spam, and anti-phishing protection. With your Office 365 subscription, you get premium email and calendars, Office apps, 1 TB of cloud storage (via OneDrive), and advanced security across all your devices. This is true for home and business users. And if you're a business user, and your organization is using Office 365 E5, you get even more protection through Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 security product overview.
OneDrive, included in Office 365, enables you to store your files and folders online, and share them as you see fit. You can work together with people (for work or fun), and coauthor files that are stored in OneDrive. You can also access your files across all your devices (your PC, phone, and tablet). Manage sharing in OneDrive.

But did you know there are good security reasons to use Microsoft Defender Antivirus together with Office 365? Here are two:

Read the following sections to learn more.

Ransomware protection and recovery

When you save your files to OneDrive, and Microsoft Defender Antivirus detects a ransomware threat on your device, the following things occur:

You are told about the threat. (If your organization is using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, your security operations team is notified, too.)
Microsoft Defender Antivirus helps you (and your organization's security team) remove the ransomware from your device(s). (If your organization is using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, your security operations team can determine whether other devices are infected and take appropriate action, too.)
You get the option to recover your files in OneDrive. With the OneDrive Files Restore feature, you can recover your files in OneDrive to the state they were in before the ransomware attack occurred. See Ransomware detection and recovering your files.

Think of the time and hassle this can save.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 integrated with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint means better protection for your organization. Here's how:

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 safeguards your organization against malicious threats posed in email messages, email attachments, and links (URLs) in Office documents.

AND
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint protects your devices from cyber threats, detects advanced attacks and data breaches, automates security incidents, and improves your security posture.

SO
Your security operations team can see a list of devices that are used by the recipients of any detected URLs or email messages, along with recent alerts for those devices, in the Microsoft Defender portal.

Protection from ransomware is one great reason to put your files in OneDrive. And there are several more good reasons, summarized in this video:

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If you're looking for Antivirus related information for other platforms, see:

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Do you want to learn more? Engage with the Microsoft Security community in our Tech Community: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Tech Community.