Over the past couple of years, Microsoft has slowly been retiring support for Microsoft Defender Application Guard (MDAG). In November 2023,it deprecated the tool for Office apps, and then in December 2023,it did the same for its Edge browser. In April 2024, it begandelisting the service from Edge and other browser stores, and finally,it removed MDAG completely from Windows 11, version 24H2. Now, it is ready to put the final nail in the coffin of MDAG by ending support in Edge altogether.
In a Message Center advisory tagged asMC1459132, Microsoft has announced what is seemingly the final stage of retirement of MDAG and Windows Information Protection (WIP) in Edge. It's worth noting thatWIP was discontinued in favor of Microsoft Purview back in 2022, and as MDAG has been removed from Windows 11 too, this notice primarily impacts Microsoft Edge users on Windows 10 only.
Microsoft has advised customers who leverage WIP to use Microsoft Purview Information Protection, Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Endpoint DLP, and Intune app protection policies. Meanwhile MDAG customers should simply utilize Edge's built-in security capabilities and any other first- or third-party isolation solutions that meets their requirements.
Since WIP and MDAG were deprecated and had to be manually enabled by IT admins anyway, the scope of impacted enterprise users in Windows 10 could be even smaller. Microsoft has urged customers to review their usage of WIP and MDAG in their environments because once it ends support by the end of September 2026, users who have not adopted supported alternatives may be left unprotected until they take action. WIP and MDAG functionalities will not work in Microsoft Edge 154 and later once the retirement rollout completes by the end of next month, so IT admins should plan migration activities as soon as possible to avoid disruption.