Microsoft introduces Application Guard for Office for admins

Microsoft launched the Application Guard for Office function to some users in February 2020. This function is similar to the application protection function previously provided by Microsoft Defender. Essentially, “When Office opens files in Application Guard, users can securely read, edit, print, and save those files without having to re-open files outside the container“.

In the field of Microsoft Office, there are countless phishing emails and all kinds of attachments with viruses. Although corporate IT departments often conduct necessary security training, some employees are induced by phishing emails to open documents with malware for various reasons. For example, it is common to send documents with macro viruses via email to induce users to enable macros. Macro viruses are one of the most common attacks in commercial enterprises.

The Application Guard for Office launched by Microsoft this time supports Microsoft 365 enterprise users to turn on the virtualized container technology. Any file opened after it is enabled will run in the virtualized container, so it will not cause host infection regardless of whether it contains a virus. This feature currently supports Microsoft 365 Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Windows 10 Enterprise Edition.