Microsoft Releases Defender ATP for Android in Public Preview

24 June 2020

Microsoft Releases Defender ATP for Android in Public Preview

Microsoft this week announced the public preview availability of the Android version of its Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) software and the general availability of the Linux variant.

Microsoft introduced Defender ATP in Windows 10 in 2016, but has since expanded its reach to other Windows versions, as well as to macOS and Linux, and now mobile devices. Last week, the company announced the integration of a UEFI scanner into its security solution.

The company previewed Microsoft Defender ATP for Android at the RSA Conference 2020 in San Francisco, and says it received great response from customers and the industry.

The software was released with protections against phishing and unsafe network connections from apps, websites, and malicious apps, as well as with the option to restrict access to corporate data from devices considered risky.

Microsoft Defender ATP for Android leverages Microsoft Defender SmartScreen services to block unsafe sites accessed through SMS, WhatsApp, email, browsers, and other apps, and proactively scans for malicious apps, files, and potentially unwanted applications (PUA).

Courtesy of integration with Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Conditional Access, mobile devices that have been compromised with malicious apps are blocked from accessing enterprise resources.

Furthermore, all events and alerts are available in the Microsoft Defender Security Center, for a centralized view of threats on all devices (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android). Here, security teams can create custom indicators for increased control over allowing and blocking domains on Android devices.

Now generally available, Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux includes support for the six most common Linux Server distributions, namely RHEL 7.2+, CentOS Linux 7.2+, Ubuntu 16 LTS or higher LTS, SLES 12+, Debian 9+, and Oracle Linux 7.2.

According to Microsoft, the solution can be deployed and configured using Puppet, Ansible, or existing Linux configuration management tools. A Microsoft Defender ATP for Servers license is needed to use Defender ATP for Linux.