Google Beefs Up Android Security With New App Scanning Features

Google has just announced via the official Android blog that it is in the process of rolling out some additional security mechanisms to the world’s most popular mobile operating system. The blog post, which was written and published by an Android security engineer by the name of Rich Cannings, gives a brief overview on some of Android’s existing security based positives before continuing to announce that the newly added features will boost the already existing Verify Apps functionality in the going fight against malicious content.

The newly added functionality will essentially offer an extended layer of security that extends beyond the Google Play Store infrastructure. The implemented features have been designed to continually poll the device to check if installed apps are performing as advertised and to ensure that they aren’t retrospectively introducing any kind of threat to the device or the user’s data. This level of protection massively improves the overall security offered to the end user as apps were only previously scanned and checked at the point of installation.

A lot of Android users will think that this new level of protection has been a long time coming, especially those who have been detrimentally affected by harmful apps. The original app scanning system that is in place in the Android ecosystem was implemented by Google more than two years ago with the ability to scan and detect malware, spyware or trojans when an app is being installed. Google believes that today’s announcement is up there with the introduction of app sandboxing in terms of innovation, stating that it is adding to the existing protection mechanisms with the aim of “further fortifying your Android phone or tablet“.

As previously mentioned, Google is in the process of rolling these important amendments out right now. The changes will be made available to smartphones and tablets running Android 2.3 and above with no additional action being required by end-users to receive the improvements. The majority of Android users out there will actually see no difference in the way their device performs on a day-to-day basis. The threat of app based malicious content may be significantly higher on Android than it is on iOS, but a relatively small percentage of Android users will ever encounter a problem.

Still, it’s great to see that Google is going to greater lengths to secure the data of its customers.

(Source: Android Official Blog)

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