Microsoft is planning to bring its Defender antivirus software to Android and iOS later this year. Microsoft announced that it’s bringing its Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to the mobile operating systems. In other words, Microsoft is stepping in to fix a problem that Apple and Google can’t seem to resolve.
Microsoft’s mobile Defender clients will likely be very different to the desktop versions, especially as Apple’s iOS platform doesn’t allow apps to scan for malware across an iPhone or iPad. There are a variety of Android antivirus apps available, though. Microsoft will join this growing market to prevent malware in Android apps that are sideloaded onto devices.
One of the bigger goals for Defender on iOS and Android is phishing prevention to stop employees at companies from accidentally revealing their usernames, passwords, or other account information. How Microsoft achieves this on iOS isn’t clear just yet, though.
As both of these mobile apps come as part of Microsoft’s enterprise security platform, it’s unlikely that they will be available for consumers to use.
It’s not yet clear when Defender will be ready for iOS and Android. Microsoft added Defender support for Linux today, and last year, it released extensions for Chrome and Firefox, as well as support for Mac, so its reach has been increasing steadily.
