7

Managing Attack Surface Reduction for Windows

Attack surface reduction (ASR) refers to a group of capabilities that (wait for it!) reduce the attack surface of your devices by limiting their known areas of weakness. ASR first made its way to Windows 10 with feature update 1709, branded as Exploit Guard. You will still see this term referenced in some UIs and literature. In general, the term ASR has superseded it.

In this chapter, we will cover ASR capabilities for Windows that MDE customers have available:

  • ASR rules
  • Controlled folder access
  • Exploit protection
  • Network protection, including SmartScreen and web protection

Combined, ASR capabilities minimize the risk your device faces against threats such as zero days, exploits, and unauthorized ...

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