Microsoft has revealed it enterprise endpoint security antivirus offering also now provides threat and vulnerability management for Android and iOS.
The move means that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint now works with all major platforms for workstations, servers, as well as mobile devices, defending them from security flaws, malware, or ransomware.
“Threat and vulnerability management in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint continuously monitors and identifies impacted devices, assesses associated risks in the environment, and provides intelligent prioritization and integrated workflows to seamlessly remediate vulnerabilities. Microsoft iterates on these features based on the latest information from the threat landscape,” the company said in its announcement.
Supporting BYOD
This means businesses can access new vulnerability assessment capabilities, such as vulnerability assessment of Android OS versions of onboarded Android devices, or vulnerability assessment of apps that are installed on onboarded Android devices.
When it comes to personal mobile devices on Android Enterprise with a work profile, only the apps installed on the work profile will be supported. For other BYOD modes, by default vulnerability assessment of apps will not be available.
This is a feature admins can explicitly enable through Microsoft Endpoint Manager, if they so wish.
When it comes to iOS, admins can expect vulnerability assessment of iOS versions on onboarded iOS/iPadOS devices. When it comes to vulnerability assessment of apps on iOS devices, Microsoft says it’s not a part of this release and that this feature will be added “at a later date.”
Microsoft first started expanding supported platforms for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint last year, when it added macOS exactly a year ago. Last summer, Linux was added, while Android was published as a public preview.