Android and Google Play comprise a vibrant ecosystem with billions of customers across the globe and thousands and thousands of useful apps. Conserving this ecosystem secure for customers and builders stays our prime precedence. Nonetheless, like every flourishing ecosystem, it additionally attracts its share of dangerous actors. That’s why yearly, we proceed to put money into extra methods to guard our group and battle dangerous actors, so customers can belief the apps they obtain from Google Play and builders can construct thriving companies.
Final 12 months, these investments included AI-powered menace detection, stronger privateness insurance policies, supercharged developer instruments, new industry-wide alliances, and extra. In consequence, we prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being printed on Google Play and banned greater than 158,000 dangerous developer accounts that tried to publish dangerous apps.
However that was simply the beginning. For extra, check out our current highlights from 2024:
Google’s superior AI: serving to make Google Play a safer place
To maintain out dangerous actors, we’ve all the time used a mixture of human safety specialists and the newest threat-detection expertise. In 2024, we used Google’s superior AI to enhance our techniques’ skill to proactively establish malware, enabling us to detect and block dangerous apps extra successfully. It additionally helps us streamline evaluation processes for builders with a confirmed monitor file of coverage compliance. As we speak, over 92% of our human opinions for dangerous apps are AI-assisted, permitting us to take faster and extra correct motion to assist forestall dangerous apps from changing into out there on Google Play.
That’s enabled us to cease extra dangerous apps than ever from reaching customers by means of the Play Retailer, defending customers from dangerous or malicious apps earlier than they’ll trigger any injury.
Working with builders to boost safety and privateness on Google Play
To guard person privateness, we’re working with builders to cut back pointless entry to delicate information. In 2024, we prevented 1.3 million apps from getting extreme or pointless entry to delicate person information. We additionally required apps to be extra clear about how they deal with person info by launching new developer necessities and a brand new “Information deletion” possibility for apps that help person accounts and information assortment. This helps customers handle their app information and perceive the app’s deletion practices, making it simpler for Play customers to delete information collected from third-party apps.
We additionally labored to make sure that apps use the strongest and newest privateness and safety capabilities Android has to supply. Each new model of Android introduces new safety and privateness options, and we encourage builders to embrace these developments as quickly as attainable. On account of partnering intently with builders, over 91% of app installs on the Google Play Retailer now use the newest protections of Android 13 or newer.
Safeguarding apps from scams and fraud is an ongoing battle for builders. The Play Integrity API permits builders to examine if their apps have been tampered with or are working in probably compromised environments, serving to them to stop abuse like fraud, bots, dishonest, and information theft. Play Integrity API and Play’s computerized safety helps builders be sure that customers are utilizing the official Play model of their app with the newest safety updates. Apps utilizing Play integrity options are seeing 80% decrease utilization from unverified and untrusted sources on common.
We’re additionally consistently working to enhance the protection of apps on Play at scale, reminiscent of with the Google Play SDK Index. This software gives insights and information to assist builders make extra knowledgeable choices concerning the security of an SDK. Final 12 months, along with including 80 SDKs to the index, we additionally labored intently with SDK and app builders to deal with potential SDK safety and privateness points, serving to to construct safer and safer apps for Google Play.
Google Play’s multi-layered protections towards dangerous apps
To create a trusted expertise for everybody on Google Play, we use our SAFE rules as a information, incorporating multi-layered protections which are all the time evolving to assist hold Google Play secure. These protections begin with the builders themselves, who play a vital function in constructing safe apps. We offer builders with best-in-class instruments, greatest practices, and on-demand coaching sources for constructing secure, high-quality apps. Each app undergoes rigorous evaluation and testing, with solely permitted apps allowed to look within the Play Retailer. Earlier than a person downloads an app from Play, customers can discover its person opinions, scores, and Information security part on Google Play to assist them make an knowledgeable resolution. And as soon as put in, Google Play Defend, Android’s built-in safety safety, helps to defend their Android system by repeatedly scanning for malicious app conduct.
Enhancing Google Play Defend to assist hold customers secure on Android
Whereas the Play Retailer gives best-in-class safety, we all know it’s not the one place customers obtain Android apps – so it’s essential that we additionally defend Android customers from extra generalized cell threats. To do that in an open ecosystem, we’ve invested in refined, real-time defenses that shield towards scams, malware, and abusive apps. These clever safety measures assist to maintain customers, person information, and gadgets secure, even when apps are put in from varied sources with various ranges of safety.
Google Play Defend robotically scans each app on Android gadgets with Google Play Providers, irrespective of the obtain supply. This built-in safety, enabled by default, offers essential safety towards malware and undesirable software program. Google Play Defend scans greater than 200 billion apps day by day and performs real-time scanning on the code-level on novel apps to fight rising and hidden threats, like polymorphic malware. In 2024, Google Play Defend’s real-time scanning recognized greater than 13 million new malicious apps from exterior Google Play1.
Google Play Defend is all the time evolving to fight new threats and shield customers from dangerous apps that may result in scams and fraud. Listed here are among the new enhancements that are actually out there globally on Android gadgets with Google Play Providers:
- Reminder notifications in Chrome on Android to re-enable Google Play Defend: In keeping with our analysis, greater than 95 % of app installations from main malware households that exploit delicate permissions extremely correlated to monetary fraud got here from Web-sideloading sources like net browsers, messaging apps, or file managers. To assist customers keep protected when looking the net, Chrome will now show a reminder notification to re-enable Google Play Defend if it has been turned off.
- Further safety towards social engineering assaults: Scammers might manipulate customers into disabling Play Defend throughout calls to obtain malicious Web-sideloaded apps. To stop this, the Play Defend app scanning toggle is now quickly disabled throughout cellphone or video calls. This safeguard is enabled by default throughout conventional cellphone calls in addition to throughout voice and video calls in common third-party apps.
- Robotically revoking app permissions for probably harmful apps: Since Android 11, we’ve taken a proactive strategy to information privateness by robotically resetting permissions for apps that customers have not used shortly. This ensures apps can solely entry the info they really want, and customers can all the time grant permissions again if crucial. To additional improve safety, Play Defend now robotically revokes permissions for probably dangerous apps, limiting their entry to delicate information like storage, images, and digital camera. Customers can restore app permissions at any time, with a affirmation step for added safety.
Google Play Defend’s enhanced fraud safety pilot analyzes and robotically blocks the set up of apps that will use delicate permissions incessantly abused for monetary fraud when the person makes an attempt to put in the app from an Web-sideloading supply (net browsers, messaging apps, or file managers).
Constructing on the success of our preliminary pilot in partnership with the Cyber Safety Company of Singapore (CSA), extra enhanced fraud safety pilots are actually lively in 9 areas – Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In 2024, Google Play Defend’s enhanced fraud safety pilots have shielded 10 million gadgets from over 36 million dangerous set up makes an attempt, encompassing over 200,000 distinctive apps.
By piloting these new protections, we will proactively fight rising threats and refine our options to thwart scammers and their more and more refined fraud makes an attempt. We look ahead to persevering with to associate with governments, ecosystem companions, and different stakeholders to enhance person protections.
App badging to assist customers discover apps they’ll belief at a look on Google Play
In 2024, we launched a brand new badge for presidency builders to assist customers all over the world establish official authorities apps. Authorities apps are sometimes targets of impersonation because of the extremely delicate nature of the info customers present, giving dangerous actors the flexibility to steal identities and commit monetary fraud. Badging verified authorities apps is a crucial step in serving to join folks with secure, high-quality, helpful, and related experiences. We associate intently with world governments and are already exploring methods to construct on this work.
We additionally just lately launched a new badge to assist Google Play customers uncover VPN apps that take further steps to display their sturdy dedication to safety. We permit builders who adhere to Play security and safety tips and have handed a further unbiased Cell Utility Safety Evaluation (MASA) to show a devoted badge within the Play Retailer to focus on their elevated dedication to security.
Collaborating to advance app safety requirements
Along with our partnerships with governments, builders, and different stakeholders, we additionally labored with our {industry} friends to guard the whole app ecosystem for everybody. The App Protection Alliance, in partnership with fellow steering committee members Microsoft and Meta, just lately launched the ADA Utility Safety Evaluation (ASA) v1.0, a brand new customary to assist builders construct safer cell, net, and cloud purposes. This customary offers clear steerage on defending delicate information, defending towards cyberattacks, and finally, strengthening person belief. This marks a major step ahead in establishing industry-wide safety greatest practices for software improvement.
All builders are inspired to evaluation and adjust to the brand new cell safety customary. You’ll see this customary in motion for all provider apps pre-installed on future Pixel cellphone fashions.
Trying forward
This 12 months, we’ll proceed to guard the Android and Google Play ecosystem, constructing on these instruments and sources in response to person and developer suggestions and the altering panorama. As all the time, we’ll hold empowering builders to construct safer apps extra simply, streamline their coverage expertise, and shield their companies and customers from dangerous actors.
1 Primarily based on Google Play Defend 2024 inside information.
