Google’s Play Protect service already offers built-in proactive protection against malware.<\/p>\n
The service scans 125 billion apps daily to help protect users from malware and unwanted software.<\/p>\n
When it finds a potentially harmful app, it can take various actions \u2014 including sending the user a warning, preventing an app install, or automatically disabling the app.<\/p>\n
The company is now trying to stop this malicious software from even getting a foot in the door.<\/p>\n
“Previously, when installing an app, Play Protect conducted a real-time check and warned users when it identified an app known to be malicious from existing scanning intelligence or was identified as suspicious from our on-device machine learning, similarity comparisons, and other techniques that we are always evolving,” Google said.<\/p>\n
“With the latest update, Play Protect can perform a real-time scan at the code-level.”<\/p>\n
For apps that the service has not scanned before, Google will allow users to use the feature to help detect new threats.<\/p>\n
They will be presented with a pop-up notification like in the screenshot below.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Google-Play-Protect-code-level-malware-scanning-.jpg\")
Pop-up notification to scan a sideloaded app’s code before installation.<\/p><\/div>\n
Google explained that the scanning will extract important signals from the app and send them to its Play Protect backend infrastructure for a code-level evaluation.<\/p>\n
“Once the real-time analysis is complete, users will get a result letting them know if the app looks safe to install or if the scan determined the app is potentially harmful,” Google said.<\/p>\n
“This enhancement will help better protect users against malicious polymorphic apps that leverage various methods, such as AI, to be altered to avoid detection.”<\/p>\n
The new Play Protect feature will roll out to all Android devices with Google Play services, beginning in India and expanding to all regions in the coming months.<\/p>\n
Android devices are generally more susceptible to malware than iPhones due to less stringent controls on what users can install.<\/p>\n
Apple only allows users to install apps from its App Store unless an iPhone is jailbroken. It can also implement hardware limits to reduce the risk of malware infection.<\/p>\n
In addition, Android’s code is open-source, which is somewhat of a double-edged sword.<\/p>\n
While it can make building malware for the operating system easier, it can also help quickly identify potential security vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n
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