News

Microsoft Intune Gets Security Boost with Zimperium Support

• By Kurt Mackie
• September 21, 2017

The Microsoft Intune mobile management solution, part of the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) suite, can now integrate with Zimperium, bringing added security protections for iOS and Android users.

The integration between Intune and Zimperium's z9 technology and Mobile Threat Defense products enables users to surface threat information and see any remediation actions that may have been taken. Zimperium's solutions also work with the conditional access feature enabled by the Microsoft EMS suite, where devices need to meet specific criteria before gaining network access.

Intune already includes compliance checks, but Zimperium solutions add additional risk data to such assessments, according to Microsoft's announcement this week.

"The integration between Zimperium and Microsoft Intune will deliver an additional level of security on mobile devices," said Andrew Conway, general manager of product marketing for Microsoft EMS, in a released statement via a Zimperium blog post.

File system, network stack and device data get collected via a locally installed Zimperium app on the device. The collected data is then used for the risk assessments, based on machine-learning technology. Any devices found to be noncompliant get blocked.

IT pros can now turn on Zimperium's Mobile Threat Defense protection from within the Azure Portal's Device Compliance "blade" interface. However, it's likely going to be an extra cost to use the service.

"Please note, any necessary licenses for Zimperium products must be purchased separately from EMS/Intune licenses," Microsoft's announcement explained.

The use of Zimperium Mobile Threat Defense requires subscriptions to Azure Active Directory Premium and Intune, although both are part of the Microsoft EMS licensing suite. Android 4.1 and later platforms are supported by Zimperium Mobile Threat Defense, as well as iOS 8 and later versions, according to Microsoft's documentation.

The Zimperium solutions work with Azure Active Directory. In May, Zimperium had announced that its Mobile Threat Defense solution was integrated with the Microsoft Azure cloud service to ward off "real-time" attacks on Android and iOS mobile devices. At that time, the company estimated that "more than 10 million mobile devices are licensed with Zimperium Mobile Threat Defense."

Zimperium's products also integrate with other enterprise mobility management products, plus security incident and event monitoring (SIEM) solutions.