Google has released its Android Security Report for 2015. It offers a gist at the state of Android ecosystem and Google’s efforts in reducing the effectiveness of and vulnerabilities and other exploits.
On its security blog, Google posted its second-ever Android security report. It includes a detailed summary of how Google services protect the Android ecosystem, a look at new security measures introduced last year and how the search engine giant works with security research community and Android partners to fight malware. With the help of this report, Google aims to engage developers and users in an open discussion to keep them informed about Android security.
Google said it scanned 6 billion apps and 400 million devices every day to keep the users protected from malware and other potentially harmful apps. It has also expanded the capabilities of Verify Apps. Earlier, it used to work only while installing apps, but now it operates on a continuous basis. This allows Google to protect Android users from apps that they install manually install via APK file, rather than downloading it from the Play Store.
With Android Marshmallow, Google introduced app permissions to control access and information users share with apps. Google also introduced monthly security update program for Nexus devices, and the program could soon be expanded to other devices too. Moreover, Google has also added Safe Browsing as a built-in feature on Chrome browser, this keeping users protected from unsafe sites.
On the store side, Google has worked to minimize the possibilities of potentially harmful apps (PHAs) from getting on the Play Store. While spyware dropped by 60 percent and hostile downloaders were down by 50 percent, the PHAs that collect user data were down by 40 percent. Overall, PHAs installed from Play Store were found on less than 0.15 percent of devices, whereas the ones from other sources went up by up by half a percent. This is exactly where Verify Apps come into picture to identify such threats.
Google has released a full detailed report, which is 49 pages long; you can read it here.
Source: bgr.in
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