Microsoft today announced a public preview of Microsoft Defender ATP for Android to protect against phishing and unsafe network connections from apps, websites, and malicious apps.

“As more business is getting done on mobile devices, the lines blur between work and personal life,” Microsoft corporate vice president Rob Lefferts explains. “In this rapidly evolving world of mobile threats, Microsoft is taking a holistic approach to tackling challenges and to securing enterprises and their data with our new mobile threat defense capabilities.”

According to Lefferts, Microsoft Defender ATP for Android will help to protect businesses and their users by providing the following functionality:

Protection from phishing and access to risky domains and URLs through web protection capabilities that will block unsafe sites accessed through SMS/text, WhatsApp, email, browsers, and other apps. The app uses the same Microsoft Defender SmartScreen services that are on Windows to quickly detect malicious sites which means that a decision to block a suspicious site will apply across all devices in the enterprise.

Proactive scanning of malicious applications, files, and potentially unwanted applications that users may download to their mobile devices. Defender ATP uses cloud-powered protection and intelligence to quickly detect sophisticated malware and apps that that may display undesirable behavior, Microsoft says.

Adding layers of protection to help prevent and limit the impact of breaches in an organization. Mobile devices that have been compromised with malicious apps or malware are considered high risk and are blocked from accessing corporate resources.

A unified security experience through Microsoft Defender Security Center where defenders can see alerts and easily get the additional context they need to quickly assess and respond to threats across Windows, Mac, Linux, and now mobile devices.

Microsoft Defender ATP for Android requires a managed environment that is using Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection. You can sign-up for a free trial of Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection here. Administrators can enable access to Defender ATP for Android in the Microsoft Defender Security Center today. There’s more information about this process here.

Tagged with Microsoft Defender ATP, Security