Microsoft Releases First Public Preview of its Defender Antivirus on Android

Starting today, customers of Microsoft's commercial antivirus product -- Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) -- can install a first version of the product's Android port. From a report: The product, named "Microsoft Defender ATP for Android," was announced at the RSA security conference in February this year, and has reached a first public preview today. Companies that have contracted Microsoft Defender ATP protection have a new option in their dashboard where they can enable the feature and deploy an Android app to employees' devices.

This new Android app will work like a classic mobile antivirus product that can scan the phone for malicious apps and other malware, detect malicious and phishing sites while the user is browsing the web, and block users from accessing certain sites based on a predefined block-list. Microsoft says the Defender ATP for Android app also comes with hidden features, courtesy of its integration into the larger and more complex Defender ATP, Intune, and Configuration Manager platforms.

New bottle

[AndyKron]

Now with fresh lemon scent!

Install Microsoft ware on my Android phone!?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Really?

I've avoided Microsoft as much as possible since the days of the Altar, when they had a FORTRAN compiler with a bug in the floating point I/O format processing and eventually told a customer who reported it that, not only wouldn't they fix it soon, they would not fix it ever.

Yes, companies change. And Android may have its problems. But installing a Microsoft product on it seems like a stop in a very wrong direction.

Re:

[thadtheman]

You mean the Alatar 8008? You do hold a grudge for a long time.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Altair

If you're going to correct someone, make sure you're right before you click submit.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

Defender ATP is a pretty damn good, certainly better than the majority in the market, however this is not something you put on personal devices, this is for enterprises so nothing you need to worry about.

Re:

[thegarbz]

Indeed, why not. Their launcher is decent and provides syncing functionality with a Windows PC, their office suit is functional, the authentication app is a shitload better than SMS 2FA, .... but I guess it's just easier to shit on an entire company than look at individual products on their merit.

Re:

[theCoder]

I agree, but this product isn't aimed at consumers. It's right there in the summary:

Companies that have contracted Microsoft Defender ATP protection have a new option in their dashboard where they can enable the feature and deploy an Android app to employees' devices.

[emphasis added]

This is for Microsoft addicted companies, and let's face it, most (if not all) companies with 1000+ employees are hopelessly Microsoft addicted. These companies don't do real security, they do checklist security, and one of t

The secret is ...

[thadtheman]

They put in a slew of their own viri so that others don't get a chance to pop up.

Oh...

[thedarb]

... hell no!

ATP for Linux as well

[Mousit]

Surprised TFS and article only mention the Android app. Alongside this Android version, which is still just a preview release, ATP for Linux was also released, to general availability [theregister.com].

I find that to be the bigger story anyway. :)

What does it really do?

[OneHundredAndTen]

Apart from consuming resources and sending your data to MS, that is.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

as well as the usual AV stuff it has device management, ability to isolate and investigate incidents on a device. e.g. in a recent pen test we were able to see exactly what commands and executables the pen testers tried to run on enrolled devices and detailed timeline of everything they attempted. The pen testers were actually surprised by how detailed the information was.

Worst track record of any antivirus.

[BAReFO0t]

You meant the antivirus with the worst track record of any antivirus out there?

Thanks but no thanks.

Also antivirus never works.
Guess what: Any virus developer checks his viruses agains all anti-virus packages before release! And updates them as soon as the anti-virus starts detecting it.
All such software catches are those viruses that have been abandoned by their developers. And that is because they have become worthless. Usually becaue there's a newer better virus now, or the job is done.

So secure your d

Hidden features? what?

[gl4ss]

what kind of madman advertises a security solution with HIDDEN FEATURES?

or are those mdm api features only available on some phones? like actual firewall and shit?

How cute

[Richard Shadrach]

You think they're scanning to find viruses? That's adorable.