Advanced Threat Analytics – end of support

In my opinion, one of the coolest security features to have ever breathed life at Microsoft is Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA), and yet I have hardly heard anyone talk about it. Perhaps because they never went so far as to add it as a native feature built into the Windows Server OS. ATA is an on-premises software that rides on top of Windows to produce some amazing functionality. Essentially, what ATA does is monitor all of your Active Directory traffic and warn you of dangerous or unusual behavior in real time, immediately as it is happening.

Unfortunately, ATA reached the end of mainstream support in January 2021. Extended support continues until 2026, however, and so I am choosing to retain information in this latest book edition because this is still a valid technology and will continue to exist in environments where it is installed for years to come. There is additional information at the end of this section regarding the ATA roadmap...