Tech giant Microsoft has released the first public preview of its commercial antivirus product, Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for Android.
Dubbed “Microsoft Defender ATP for Android,” the product was announced at the RSA security meeting in February this year, and was open to a first public preview on Tuesday.
Firms that have contracted the Microsoft product have a new option in their dashboard where they can enable the feature and install an Android app to employees’ devices.
This new app will serve as a standard mobile antivirus product that can scan the phone for malevolent apps and other malware, spot malicious and other phony websites while the user is browsing the web, and stop users from gaining access to certain sites.
The software behemoth says the Defender ATP for Android app is also accompanied by hidden features, due to its incorporation into the larger and more complex Defender ATP, Intune, and Configuration Manager platforms.
The product efficiently works as a porter for a company’s network, letting IT staff lock Android smartphones out of the corporate network or stop users from accessing corporate apps.
“When Microsoft Defender ATP for Android finds that a device has malicious apps installed, it will classify the device as ‘high risk’ and will flag it in the Microsoft Defender Security Center,” Kanishka Srivastava, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, said .
At the moment, Microsoft Defender ATP is only available for Windows, Mac and Linux devices. The Linux client withdrew from its public preview and entered overall accessibility earlier Tuesday.