Defender Path Exception (MacOS)

This guide will show an administrator how to configure a directory path that will be excluded from Defender Antivirus interference.

Role Requirements

Procedure Scope: Administrators

Required Group Membership: Admin.Security

Handbook Reference

Package: TBD

Domain: TBD

Modifies: TBD

Defender macOS Path Exclusion

1. Navigate to the Configuration Profiles – Intune Select the Security Essentials macOS Defender Settings configuration profile.
   
2. Scroll down to Configuration Settings and select Edit.
   
3. Find the Scan Exclusions section and hit Add a field should be generated below, click Edit Instance to configure the item to be an extension exclusion.
   
4. In the box below, enter the full path to the folder containing items that will not be under the scrutiny of Defender Antivirus. It is recommended that these are not commonly used locations – such as the download or documents folder – but instead locations used by approved custom applications. Along with this, it is highly discouraged to create a path that users are aware bypasses antivirus scanning. Paths included here should not be known to the user and used for application functionality only, lest the user place a downloaded file in this known bypassed location and introduce risk to the system.
   
5. Click Review and Save on the next page, followed by Save. Rule changes propagate in less than 24 hours.
   

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