Microsoft Defender For Endpoint Can Now Manage Bugs in Android, iOS Devices

Microsoft is rolling out the general availability of a feature that allows administrators to manage the security and vulnerability management of Android and iOS devices with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

The new cross-platform coverage, threat and vulnerability management capabilities now support all major device platforms across the organization, spanning workstations, servers and now mobile devices, the company announced in a Tech Community blog.

Support for those mobile platforms is now a part of Microsoft Defender for Endpoints mobile threat defense solution, which is designed to secure all endpoints in the organization.

“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,” the company says. “Microsoft iterates on these features based on the latest information from the threat landscape. “

For Android devices, organizations now have access to vulnerability assessment of Android OS versions of onboarded devices and vulnerability assessment of apps installed on those devices.

Apps installed only on the work profile on Android Enterprise devices will be supported, but in BYOD scenarios, admins can enable the vulnerability assessment of apps feature through Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

For iOS, the solution covers iOS versions on boarded iOS/iPadOS devices. However, the vulnerability assessment of apps on those devices is not yet available, but Microsoft says it will be added at a later date.

The platform gives admins insights into which devices are vulnerable to specific CVEs, as well as the risk level, exposure level and health status of each onboarded mobile device.

Admins will also receive security recommendations based on the assessment of devices, including which devices are out of date and which apps need to be updated.

This offering builds on similar recent expansions of Defender over the last year, including covering unmanaged and unauthorized endpoints, network devices and IoT devices.

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