Google is set to upgrade its malware protection system known as Google Play Protect, used on Android devices. The aim of this update is to strengthen the system's ability to detect malicious applications that alter their specific features to evade detection.
This improvement has been developed to counter the diverse range of malicious applications that employ various techniques, such as artificial intelligence, to evade detection.
This update comes as a response to the increasing diversity of malicious software, which has become challenging to detect with current systems employed by Google.
Thanks to this enhancement, Google Play Protect's malware protection system now recommends real-time scanning of applications during installation if they have not been previously vetted.
Furthermore, it verifies new applications and compares them with current ratings, utilizing techniques such as on-device machine learning.
Following the scan, Google sends a notification to the user, informing them whether the application is safe or harmful.
The Google Play Protect service is available on all Android devices utilizing Google Play services. Currently, nearly 125 billion applications are scanned daily to prevent the spread of harmful and unwanted software. The system checks applications before download and conducts daily scans to detect malware across the device, regardless of the installation source.
Despite these improvements, researchers still point out the risk of malware discovery for the Android system due to the availability of sophisticated protection methods accessible to attackers.
Finally, Google's blog post indicates that malware often spreads through suspicious download links and untrusted sources, such as messaging applications. Google considers safeguarding Android users of paramount importance and continuously collaborates with its partners and application developers to enhance application security and combat malicious and unwanted software.
The rollout of the new scanning feature has commenced in some countries, like India, and will become available worldwide in the coming months.
