Bleepingcomputer reported: "Windows Defender is being rebranded to Microsoft Defender to indicate that it now part of a cross platform family of products. This includes enterprise products, which offer solutions for multiple OS platforms.

Historically, Microsoft's consumer antivirus product has been called Windows Defender. With the release of their enterprise security offerings called Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and Microsoft Defender ATP for Macs, Microsoft has decided to rebrand the Windows version under this family name as well.

In a statement to BleepingComputer, Microsoft has stated that they are making these changes to show that their security products have become cross-platform under the umbrella name Microsoft Defender:

“As part of our continued $1B a year investment to deliver a world class security platform for our customers, we are extending Windows Defender ATP capabilities beyond the Windows operating system. As a result, we are renaming to reflect our cross-platform approach to endpoint security.”

While Microsoft only provided a statement related to their enterprise products, in the Windows 10 Insider build 18941 Microsoft has also changed the name of Windows Defender Antivirus to Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Windows Defender Exploit Guard to Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard.

In KnowBe4, we see more and more customers not buying 3rd party antivirus anymore, but upgrade their workstations to Win10 and relying on Defender instead, because it is just as good. The budget that you free up is best used by stepping your users through new-school security awareness training. Story continued here.