News

Microsoft Brings AI-Based Security to Intune with Pradeo Deal

• By Kurt Mackie
• February 27, 2018

A newly announced pact between Microsoft and mobile security firm Pradeo will bring additional security protections to businesses using Microsoft's Intune mobile device management (MDM) solution for iOS and Android devices.

According to Microsoft's announcement on Tuesday, the two companies' integrated solutions will reach the "general availability" stage sometime "later this quarter."

Microsoft described the partnership as being an integration with the Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) suite. That suite includes subscriptions to Intune and Azure AD Premium, among other components.

Pradeo Security uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to add security protections to mobile applications, such as blocking leaky apps and ensuring data privacy compliance. It addresses network security issues such as man-in-the-middle attacks and certificate problems. Vulnerabilities associated with the operating system, including system takeovers and device jailbreaking, also are addressed, according to Pradeo's description.

The idea is that Pradeo Security can notify Intune when a mobile device is out of compliance. Intune can then enforce conditional access policies on the device via the Azure AD identity and access management service. The conditional access process typically prompts end users to prove that the device is in compliance before granting network access privileges, and users also may have to prove their identity via multifactor authentication (MFA).

The relationship between Pradeo's service and Intune and Azure AD is shown in the following diagram:

"When a threat is detected, Pradeo immediately applies on-device protections and notifies Intune to mark the device as non-compliant and trigger the appropriate conditional access controls, ensuring that company data stays protected," Microsoft's announcement explained regarding the integrated solution.

Pradeo's security solutions are also integrated with VMware AirWatch, IBM MaaS360, MobileIron and Soti mobile management solutions, as described here.

Microsoft has established similar partnerships before, combining Intune and Azure AD with mobile security solutions built by other software providers. Last year, Microsoft announced Intune integrations with Google Play Protect for Android devices. It also announced an Intune integration with Zimperium's z9 technology and Mobile Threat Defense products for Android and iOS devices. Intune also got integrated with Skycure's Mobile Threat Defense service for Android and iOS devices.

Microsoft also last year established a partnership with Jamf, extending conditional access protections via Intune and Azure AD to Mac devices for organizations that use the Jamf Pro management solution.