Today, Microsoft announced that it is planning to bring its Defender antivirus software to Android and iOS later this year. The Redmond-based company is developing apps for both mobile operating systems that are designed to provide antivirus prevention and a ‘full command line experience’. However, the company still doesn’t disclose exactly what the apps will do. But we will see its demonstration at the RSA Conference next week.
Also Read: Do You Have One Or More Of These 17 Android Apps? You’d Better Uninstall Them!
The move is also the latest effort to sell products to consumers who use other companies’ mobile products. In recent years, Microsoft has introduced Office to Android and iOS platforms, acquired the popular mobile keyboard application SwiftKey, and launched new mobile games based on Minecraft games. In fact, it acquired this company in 2014. Last year, Microsoft also launched its own dual-screen Android phone.
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Although Apple and Google have scrutinized their app stores to prevent the emergence of malware, this has not stopped Microsoft from joining. Rob Lefferts, Microsoft vice president, said in an interview: ‘They’re pretty safe, but pretty safe is not the same as safe. Malware does happen on those platforms.’ Lefferts also said that more important thing is that mobile devices can expose people to phishing attacks. In short, Defender can help protect people from such attacks.
According to Microsoft executive Andrew Conway, the global security market is worth $80 billion. Microsoft launched its own anti-virus software, Windows Defender, in 2006 and changed its name to ‘Microsoft Defender’ last year. The company last year also introduced security-analytics tool called Azure Sentinel that competes with the likes of Splunk.
