Google Play blocks more than 2 million Trojan apps – and the trend is rising
Thanks to stricter security checks, Google blocked almost 2.3 million apps in 2023. However, despite increased efforts, some still slip through.
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Apps infected with malicious code regularly sneak into Google Play. Google has now expanded its security measures to weed out such apps in advance so that they are not uploaded to the App Store in the first place.
In a report, the Google Play security team states that it blocked 2.28 million apps that violate the security rules in 2023. It also removed 333,000 Play accounts from developers. In 2022, the figure was 1.5 million apps and 173,000 accounts.
Increasing security
To achieve this, Google says it has tightened the guidelines for apps and the review process before uploading has become more effective thanks to machine learning processes. This includes, among other things, the analysis and evaluation of authorizations such as SMS access that apps request.
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There is also an extended, optional security assessment for apps. Among other things, this includes an independent security check and a check as to whether data is reliably transmitted in encrypted form. If an app passes such a rating, it is labeled accordingly in Google Play. This award is currently available for some VPN apps.
They have also tightened the conditions for creating developer accounts. There are also partnerships with the App Defenser Alliance (ADA), Microsoft and Meta to increase the security of apps.
A real-time scanner is designed to detect malicious applications from third-party app stores and prevent them from being installed.
Tilting at windmills?
Despite all efforts, Trojan apps keep slipping into Google Play, some of which are downloaded millions of times. Kaspersky recorded 600 million malware app downloads in a report at the end of 2023.
(des)