Skip to main content

Google teams up with security companies to catch bad apps before they hit the Play Store


It’s calling the partnership the ‘App Defense Alliance’
Google announced today that it’s teaming up with three security companies to help identify malicious apps before they’re published on the Play Store and can potentially do harm to Android users. The company is calling this partnership the App Defense Alliance.
Android is on over 2.5 billion devices, according to Google, and the company says that makes the platform “an attractive target” for abuse. That abuse can take the form of hidden malware or secret code designed to spy and siphon away sensitive user data. This seems to be particularly true of the Play Store — over the past year or so, Google has had to take action against multiple developers for releasing apps on the Play Store using scammy ad practices. By forming the App Defense Alliance, Google is enlisting security companies ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium to help scan for bad apps before they hit the Play Store in the first place.
Google already builds Google Play Protect, its malware protection service, right into Android. The company says it also uses Play Protect to scan “billions” of apps every day on the Play Store. So it seems like Google should already be catching these bad apps — but apparently, the problem is big enough that the company felt the need to bring in some reinforcements. In theory, with more companies helping scan Play Store apps, there’s a better chance you won’t accidentally download one of the bad offenders on your Android device.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Babuk ransomware is back, uses new version on corporate networks

  After announcing their exit from the ransomware business in favor of data theft extortion, the Babuk gang appears to have slipped back into their old habit of encrypting corporate networks. The criminals are currently using a new version of their file-encrypting malware and have moved the operation to a new leak site that lists a handful of victims. Gang’s still in the game The Babuk ransomware group became known at the beginning of the year but the gang says that their attacks had started in mid-October 2020, targeting companies across the world and demanding ransoms typically between $60,000 and $85,000 in bitcoin cryptocurrency. In some cases, victims were asked hundreds of thousands for data decryption. One of their most publicized victims is the Washinton DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). This attack likely pushed the threat actor into announcing its retirement from the ransomware business only to adopt another extortion model that did not include encryption....
Post a Comment
Read more

Ransomware's Dangerous New Trick Is Double-Encrypting Your Data

  Ransomware groups have always taken a more-is-more approach . If a victim pays a ransom and then goes back to business as usual-hit them again. Or don’t just encrypt a target’s systems; steal their data first, so you can threaten to leak it if they don’t pay up. The latest escalation? Ransomware hackers who encrypt a victim’s data twice at the same time. Double-encryption attacks have happened before, usually stemming from two separate ransomware gangs compromising the same victim at the same time. But antivirus company Emsisoft says it is aware of dozens of incidents in which the same actor or group intentionally layers two types of ransomware on top of each other. “The groups are constantly trying to work out which strategies are best , which net them the most money for the least amount of effort,” says Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow. “So in this approach you have a single actor deploying two types of ransomware. The victim decrypts their data and discovers it’s not act...
Post a Comment
Read more

Linux For Apple M1 Macs is Finally Here, Thanks To Corellium

  Just when we thought that Desktop/Notebooks on ARM chipsets doesn’t make any sense, Apple came up with a revolutionary chipset M1 and showed the world what it’s capable of. Unlike other Mac counterparts with Intel CPUs, M1 lacked the ability to run Linux, until yesterday. Thanks to Corellium, running Linux for M1 Macs is now possible. The company known for winning a lawsuit against Apple has finally created its own Linux OS for M1 Macs. This certainly opens doors for other Linux communities to do the same. Corellium’s Linux For M1 Macs Is In Early Beta Stages Creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, wanted M1 Macbook Air to run Linux , and it’s finally a reality. Corellium’s CTO, Chris Wade, tweeted yesterday that Corellium’s Linux OS is available and is in very early beta stages. Adding to that, he also warned users to go ahead with the installation only if they know what they’re doing. More details about the “full release with USB” were supposed to be revealed today, but there’s ...
Post a Comment
Read more