Google apps and Play Store.
Photo Credit: DH Photo/KVN Rohit
Google's Android has an envious mobile OS market share of close to 70 per cent. As per the latest numbers, there are more than 3.6 billion Android phones worldwide. One main reason why people love Android phones is that they offer better User Interface customisation compared to other platforms.
However, it also attracts threat actors to prey on naive phone users. They come up with devious techniques to coerce users to install malware-laced apps onto phones.
While phone users are advised not to venture into shady websites, platform owners such as Google and others also have the responsibility to keep their platforms clean and prevent malware-laced apps from entering the ecosystem.
Now, Google has revealed that it blocked more than 2.8 million bad apps entering the Play Store.
Also, the company rejected close to 200K app submissions and some were asked to resubmit the applications and be more transparent about data collection to customers.
With improved Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)-based screening technology, Google was able to quickly identify threat actors. It banned 333,000 plus bad developer accounts that tried to submit malicious apps to the Play Store.
In the last several years, Google has taken measures to protect the Play Store from trojan apps.
In 2019, it created App Defence Alliance with major cyber security firms such as ESET, Lookout, Zimperium. Since then, many big technology firms such as McAfee, NCC Group, Netsentries, Cyberdefense, Presicient Security, and MicroTrend, have joined ADA.
It should be noted that Microsoft and Meta are steering committee members of the App Defense Alliance. Recently, Oppo and OnePlus joined the team.
"Protecting users and developers on Google Play is paramount and ever-evolving. We're launching new security initiatives in 2024, including removing apps from Play that are not transparent about their privacy practices. We're constantly working on new ways to protect your experience on Google Play and across the entire Android ecosystem, and we look forward to sharing more," Google said on the official blog.
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