Google has revealed that it prevented 2.28 million malicious apps from being published on the Play Store, the Android app store, during the year 2023. Among the data published by the company, it is included that nearly 200,000 apps were rejected or corrected to solve problems with access to confidential data, and that 333,000 malicious accounts were blocked in the app store for attempting to distribute malware or for repeatedly violating the platform’s policies.
In addition to preventing the publication of malicious apps, Google focused on protecting user privacy on a massive scale. This, according to Steve Kafka, Khawaja Shams, and Mohet Saxena from Google, included strategic partnerships with SDK providers to limit access and sharing of sensitive data, benefiting over 790,000 apps.
At the same time, Google strengthened the developer onboarding and review processes, requiring more identifying data and demanding that they complete a rigorous verification process when setting up their Play Console developer accounts.
Google’s security initiatives also extended to proactive measures to address threats. On one hand, the company moved the App Defense Alliance (ADA) under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, with the addition of Meta and Microsoft as founding executive members, and implemented real-time code scanning in the App Store to detect and address new malicious programs for Android.
In addition, Google introduced an “independent security review” badge in the data security section of the Play Store, providing users with an additional guarantee about the security of VPN apps that have undergone a mobile application security assessment (MASA) audit.
Google also acted in favor of users by removing approximately 1.5 million apps from the Play Store that were not adapted to the latest APIs, a measure that ensures that users only have access to secure and updated apps.
Google’s fight against digital wrongdoers is not limited to technical actions, but also involves legal actions. This month, the company filed a lawsuit in the United States against two Chinese scammers for their involvement in an online fraud scheme that involved downloading fake apps from the Play Store to steal funds from users.
