Google Says It Blocked 1.2 Million Malicious Android Apps From Its Play Store Last Year

To help give all Android users a more efficient and safe experience while downloading apps, Google announced the bold steps it took to block nearly 1.2 million apps on its Play Store.

The apps eliminated included those that went against privacy guidelines or were involved in carrying out malicious activities in the previous year.

Google mentioned these changes through a recent blog post while shedding light on how important of a role the tech giant was playing to assist its developers and its users.

Two members from Google’s Security and Privacy team mentioned how the company was doing everything in its power to enhance user protection. And that’s why they’re now introducing ‘multi-privacy-based features’.

Google has also spoken about its initiative to better its machine learning system, including review processes that assist in blocking 1.2 million apps. These are believed to go against the firm’s privacy laws. Therefore, they never end up being published on the platform.

Similarly, Google delineated further attempts at combating developers whose main role is to generate spam by banning almost 190,000 accounts in the year 2021.

Previously, we also saw the tech giant unveil its mega data safety area in the Play Store. Through this, both developers and users can understand which privacy/security protocols are being followed.

Google’s data safety section was launched this week and they’ve outlined how developers must update and abide by the section before July 20.

A partnership with SDK has been carried out by Google to put a limit on data sharing while enhancing communication lines with the app’s long list of developers. Moreover, the company shared how it was not an easy process but their ultimate goal was to allow for a safe and useful Google Play community that benefits all stakeholders.

The tech giant was also seen stressing how user safety could best be maintained through limited access to data. That’s when we saw a ban on third-party voice recording apps and limited use of Accessibility APIs which it feels serve as the best protection policies in this matter.

We were also able to get a glimpse of Google’s efforts at changing IDs for its advertising that came into effect in the previous year. This led to a complete ban or stop on collecting AAID and other identifiers for devices that kept vulnerable children as their targets.

Similarly, we saw Google make way for enhanced security measures for all of its Pixel users by the addition of a security hub. This gave protection to phone apps, passwords, and even your own Google account limited to Pixel devices. In case you’re wondering how, well, it presented a complete and current configuration picture.

Lastly, Pixel users also benefited from newer learning machine models that did a great job at detecting malware through Google Play’s Protect which instantly highlights bad apps.

As you can see, the amount of work done by Google in this regard is plenty. And this blog post made sure it highlighted the firm’s constant struggle for a safer tomorrow.


Read next: Google Allows Users To Remove Their Personal Contact Details From Being Displayed In Its Search Results
Previous Post Next Post