News

Microsoft Partners with TeamViewer for Intune

• By Kurt Mackie
• June 10, 2016

TeamViewer, a provider of remote monitoring and meeting software based in Germany, is bringing its eponymous solution to Microsoft's Intune product, the two companies announced on Wednesday.

TeamViewer's remote assistance solution "replaces the Easy Assist capability within Microsoft Intune," according to the announcement. Easy Assist was the name of Microsoft's own remote assistance solution in Intune. It reportedly had some problems early on.

The TeamViewer Intune solution provides remote assistance for end users via Intune's PC Client Center, according to TeamViewer's announcement:

The new TeamViewer interoperation will enable IT professionals to remotely connect to, view and control an end-user's computer. To initiate remote assistance, end-users simply request a session from within the Intune PC Client Center. Then, an IT professional approves the request from the Administrator Console and connects back to the end-user's PC.

The deal was described as adding "interoperability" with Intune. Microsoft welcomed the partnership.

"Organizations today need secure solutions that give them the ability to provide flexible, remote IT support for their users," said Andrew Conway, senior director of product marketing for the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) at Microsoft, in a released statement. "We're excited to welcome TeamViewer into the Microsoft Intune ecosystem, enhancing our mutual customers' capabilities for remote assistance on Intune managed Windows PCs."

A licensing cost is associated with the TeamViewer use, but the details weren't described.

TeamViewer recently made the news after some users claimed its software was used to remotely hack them. The users, writing in a Reddit forum, claimed that hackers had compromised TeamViewer's servers and stolen passwords and then used that information to access their machines using TeamViewer. In some cases, they said they witnessed PayPal purchases being made from their screens via the remote connection.

In a letter to its users, TeamViewer denied its network had been breached. The letter put the blame on users, claiming that hackers must have exploited leaked passwords that TeamViewer users had reused for their TeamViewer accounts. Some users claimed they were hacked even with two-factor authentication protections in place, but TeamViewer's letter said it hadn't verified such cases.

TeamViewer indicated this month that it was rolling out two new security protections for its users. A "Trusted Devices" feature is designed to verify log-in attempts on new hardware. A "Data Integrity" feature checks for unusual activities, such as access from a new location.

Microsoft apparently hasn't released a press release about the TeamViewer deal. It also seems that TeamViewer's June 8 press release hasn't been published at its own listing page quite yet.

I asked Microsoft if it had verified the security of TeamViewer's operations as part of the partnership deal on Intune. There was no direct response. Instead, a Microsoft spokesperson simply said that "we have been working with TeamViewer to evaluate remote assistance capabilities for customers."