Manage Microsoft Defender with Group Policy

Team: Huntress EDR
Product: Managed Defender Antivirus, Group Policy Objects (Local GPO), AD
Environment: Windows Active Directory or Azure AD
Summary: Huntress utilizes local group policy to set Microsoft Defender preferences 

How does Huntress manage Microsoft Windows Defender? 
Huntress' Managed AV feature leverages Local Group Policy to set Defender preferences. 

What happens if my machine is Active Directory Domain Joined? 

If your machine is joined to an Active Directory Domain, it must have a connection to at least 1 Domain Controller for the policy to be applied (Managed AV). This is a security feature within a domain that requires a "blessing" from a Domain Controller first before a policy is applied. If the machine is unable to contact a DC, the policy will be applied the next the time machine is able to apply a Group Policy update. 

Here's some info from Microsoft on applying Group Policy and how processing works: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/policy/applying-group-policy