Microsoft is preparing to launch its antivirus program on the two most popular phone platforms currently, Android and iOS
Microsoft, the American software giant, plans to expand its Defender antivirus program to include Android and iOS systems, and will display a comprehensive preview of this during the RSA conference, which will be held from February 24 to 28.
With this, Microsoft aims to provide security solutions to millions of Apple and Google users, amid growing malware threats around the world.
Microsoft Defender was first introduced in 2006 after creating several beta versions, and is now known as Windows Defender for Windows users.
According to a memo shared by the company on Thursday, Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) will not only counter threats from third-party applications, but will also share analytics with Azure Sentinel, Microsoft’s cloud security information and event manager (SIEM) to “view and manage threats across Microsoft for the future.”
The company will also expand ATP to Linux.
Speaking about the company’s vision, Rob Lefferts, Microsoft corporate vice president, told CNBC, “iOS and Android are secure and not secure so the ATP feature will address phishing attempts.”
Note that it is still unclear when and how the technical giant Microsoft plans to launch the Defender application for mobile phones.
The latest announcement from Microsoft is an attempt by the company to capitalize more on the smartphone industry, after providing antivirus protection for PCs for decades. Earlier this week, the company launched an all-in-one Office app for Android and iOS devices that provides access to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from your phone with ease.
In 2019, Microsoft partnered with Samsung to sell some of its smartphones with pre-installed apps under Microsoft Android, and in 2018 the Redmond company brought Windows Defender Browser Protection to popular web browsers, Google Chrome and Firefox as a security add-on.
