Android and Google Play comprise a vibrant ecosystem with billions of customers across the globe and thousands and thousands of useful apps. Maintaining this ecosystem protected for customers and builders stays our high precedence. Nevertheless, like several flourishing ecosystem, it additionally attracts its share of unhealthy actors. That’s why yearly, we proceed to spend money on extra methods to guard our group and combat unhealthy actors, so customers can belief the apps they obtain from Google Play and builders can construct thriving companies.
Final yr, these investments included AI-powered menace detection, stronger privateness insurance policies, supercharged developer instruments, new industry-wide alliances, and extra. Because of this, we prevented 2.36 million policy-violating apps from being printed on Google Play and banned greater than 158,000 unhealthy developer accounts that tried to publish dangerous apps.
However that was simply the beginning. For extra, check out our latest highlights from 2024:
Google’s superior AI: serving to make Google Play a safer place
To maintain out unhealthy actors, we have now all the time used a mix of human safety specialists and the newest threat-detection expertise. In 2024, we used Google’s superior AI to enhance our methods’ capability to proactively establish malware, enabling us to detect and block unhealthy apps extra successfully. It additionally helps us streamline assessment processes for builders with a confirmed observe document of coverage compliance. Right this moment, over 92% of our human opinions for dangerous apps are AI-assisted, permitting us to take faster and extra correct motion to assist stop dangerous apps from changing into accessible on Google Play.
That’s enabled us to cease extra unhealthy apps than ever from reaching customers via 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 scale back pointless entry to delicate knowledge. In 2024, we prevented 1.3 million apps from getting extreme or pointless entry to delicate person knowledge. 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 knowledge assortment. This helps customers handle their app knowledge and perceive the app’s deletion practices, making it simpler for Play customers to delete knowledge collected from third-party apps.
We additionally labored to make sure that apps use the strongest and latest 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 potential. Because of partnering carefully 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 verify if their apps have been tampered with or are working in doubtlessly compromised environments, serving to them to forestall abuse like fraud, bots, dishonest, and knowledge theft. Play Integrity API and Play’s computerized safety helps builders be certain 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 continually working to enhance the security of apps on Play at scale, comparable to with the Google Play SDK Index. This software presents insights and knowledge to assist builders make extra knowledgeable selections concerning the security of an SDK. Final yr, along with including 80 SDKs to the index, we additionally labored carefully with SDK and app builders to handle potential SDK safety and privateness points, serving to to construct safer and safer apps for Google Play.
Google Play’s multi-layered protections in opposition to unhealthy 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 protected. These protections begin with the builders themselves, who play an important function in constructing safe apps. We offer builders with best-in-class instruments, finest practices, and on-demand coaching assets for constructing protected, high-quality apps. Each app undergoes rigorous assessment and testing, with solely accepted apps allowed to look within the Play Retailer. Earlier than a person downloads an app from Play, customers can discover its person opinions, rankings, and Information security part on Google Play to assist them make an knowledgeable choice. And as soon as put in, Google Play Shield, Android’s built-in safety safety, helps to defend their Android system by constantly scanning for malicious app habits.
Enhancing Google Play Shield to assist hold customers protected on Android
Whereas the Play Retailer presents 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 in opposition to scams, malware, and abusive apps. These clever safety measures assist to maintain customers, person knowledge, and gadgets protected, even when apps are put in from numerous sources with various ranges of safety.
Google Play Shield routinely scans each app on Android gadgets with Google Play Providers, regardless of the obtain supply. This built-in safety, enabled by default, gives essential safety in opposition to malware and undesirable software program. Google Play Shield scans greater than 200 billion apps each 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 Shield’s real-time scanning recognized greater than 13 million new malicious apps from outdoors Google Play1.
Google Play Shield is all the time evolving to fight new threats and shield customers from dangerous apps that may result in scams and fraud. Listed below are a number of the new enhancements that are actually accessible globally on Android gadgets with Google Play Providers:
- Reminder notifications in Chrome on Android to re-enable Google Play Shield: In response to our analysis, greater than 95 p.c 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 shopping the online, Chrome will now show a reminder notification to re-enable Google Play Shield if it has been turned off.
- Extra safety in opposition to social engineering assaults: Scammers could manipulate customers into disabling Play Shield throughout calls to obtain malicious Web-sideloaded apps. To stop this, the Play Shield app scanning toggle is now quickly disabled throughout telephone or video calls. This safeguard is enabled by default throughout conventional telephone calls in addition to throughout voice and video calls in widespread third-party apps.
- Mechanically revoking app permissions for doubtlessly harmful apps: Since Android 11, we’ve taken a proactive method to knowledge privateness by routinely resetting permissions for apps that customers have not used shortly. This ensures apps can solely entry the information they really want, and customers can all the time grant permissions again if vital. To additional improve safety, Play Shield now routinely revokes permissions for doubtlessly dangerous apps, limiting their entry to delicate knowledge like storage, photographs, and digital camera. Customers can restore app permissions at any time, with a affirmation step for added safety.
Google Play Shield’s enhanced fraud safety pilot analyzes and routinely blocks the set up of apps that will use delicate permissions continuously 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 energetic in 9 areas – Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam.
In 2024, Google Play Shield’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 are able to proactively fight rising threats and refine our options to thwart scammers and their more and more refined fraud makes an attempt. We stay up for persevering with to accomplice 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 information customers present, giving unhealthy actors the flexibility to steal identities and commit monetary fraud. Badging verified authorities apps is a vital step in serving to join folks with protected, high-quality, helpful, and related experiences. We accomplice carefully with international governments and are already exploring methods to construct on this work.
We additionally lately launched a new badge to assist Google Play customers uncover VPN apps that take further steps to exhibit their robust dedication to safety. We permit builders who adhere to Play security and safety pointers and have handed a further unbiased Cell Software Safety Evaluation (MASA) to show a devoted badge within the Play Retailer to spotlight 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 all the app ecosystem for everybody. The App Protection Alliance, in partnership with fellow steering committee members Microsoft and Meta, lately launched the ADA Software Safety Evaluation (ASA) v1.0, a brand new normal to assist builders construct safer cell, net, and cloud functions. This normal gives clear steerage on defending delicate knowledge, defending in opposition to cyberattacks, and finally, strengthening person belief. This marks a big step ahead in establishing industry-wide safety finest practices for utility improvement.
All builders are inspired to assessment and adjust to the brand new cell safety normal. You’ll see this normal in motion for all provider apps pre-installed on future Pixel telephone fashions.
Trying forward
This yr, we’ll proceed to guard the Android and Google Play ecosystem, constructing on these instruments and assets 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 unhealthy actors.
1 Based mostly on Google Play Shield 2024 inner knowledge.
