Canonical collaborates with Microsoft to strengthen enterprise-grade Linux protection

Canonical is working with Microsoft Defender to improve the security of organizations’ mission-critical Linux workloads 

(March 18, 2026) Today Canonical, the publishers of Ubuntu, announce a new security initiative with Microsoft Defender, aimed at deeply reinforcing the security offered along with Canonical’s security maintenance service, Ubuntu Pro. With Ubuntu Pro security maintenance now available for Microsoft Defender customers, enterprises can extend advanced threat prevention, detection, and investigation capabilities to Ubuntu Pro environments – ensuring consistent, high-performance protection across all major Linux environments. This collaboration empowers security and operations teams to standardize on trusted tooling, simplify management, and elevate their security baseline.

Linux is the infrastructural backbone for many of today’s enterprises, and serves as the foundation of countless mission-critical systems, including databases, transaction systems, and cloud‑native applications. Ubuntu Pro strengthens this foundation with Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) for long-term stability, Livepatch for rebootless kernel updates, and compliance with stringent standards such as FIPS. 

“Security is a shared responsibility, and our collaboration with Microsoft ensures that Ubuntu Pro users have the best tools to manage it,” said Jehudi Castro, Public Cloud Alliance Director at Canonical. “Through this collaboration, enterprises that use Ubuntu will be able to make full use of both Microsoft Defender and Ubuntu Pro, allowing them to unify their security operations, manage their open source assets at scale, and benefit from the security partnerships and around-the-clock security updates that both organizations regularly publish.”

Organizations running Ubuntu Pro can now consolidate security operations across platforms (including multi-cloud and hybrid environments), reduce deployment complexity, and accelerate incident response time – all while maintaining the stability and performance required for compliant services.

How Ubuntu Pro and Microsoft Defender strengthen Linux security:

• New access to Ubuntu’s native security maintenance – Microsoft Defender users can draw from the around-the-clock security advances made by Canonical, keeping their Ubuntu and open source estate security-maintainted, stable, and reliable 

• Unified protection across Linux estates – Real-time threat prevention and detection integrated with Microsoft’s security platform, enabling consistent protection across hybrid environments.

• AI-powered detection and response – Microsoft’s global threat intelligence, powered by over 100 trillion daily signals, combined with AI, machine learning, and behavioural analysis, makes proactive detection and response possible, reducing incident volumes and improving response times.

• Streamlined deployment and operations – Microsoft Defender provides centralized visibility into alerts, grouping them into incident context through the Defender portal, helping security teams assess and prioritize threats efficiently. Continuous exposure management and integrated threat intelligence help teams stay ahead of emerging risks. At the same time, simplified deployment and centralized policy management ensure administrative efficiency at scale. Integration with popular configuration management tools like Ansible and Puppet enables rapid onboarding and consistent policy enforcement across large Linux estates.

Getting Started

• Learn how to get security patching and compliance with Ubuntu Pro.
• Get started with Microsoft Defender endpoint security for free.
• Learn more about how Microsoft Defender secures Linux workloads.
• Deploy at scale on Ubuntu Pro. Visit Microsoft Learn for guidance for Ansible, Puppet, and Chef.

About Canonical 

Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, provides open source security, support and services. Our portfolio covers critical systems, from the smallest devices to the largest clouds, from the kernel to containers, from databases to AI. With customers that include top tech brands, emerging startups, governments and home users, Canonical delivers trusted open source for everyone.