Google offers new app scanning feature to detect malware

Google Play Protect is a free, built-in threat detection service that scans Android devices for any potentially harmful apps downloaded from CHPlay, as well as other external sources. In severe cases, the app may be blocked from being installed.

The check expands on previously existing protections to alert users when an app is identified as potentially malicious based on existing scan information or is identified as suspicious from heuristics gathered through on-device machine learning.

With the latest protections, important signals from the app are extracted and sent to the Play Protect backend infrastructure to evaluate the app in real time to determine whether it is safe to install or has potentially dangerous features.

“This enhancement will help better protect users from malicious apps that leverage various attack methods, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to avoid detection,” a Google representative said. Google added that the feature is being rolled out in select countries, starting with India.

Google's security improvements come as hackers are finding new ways to spread malware on the Android operating system, primarily through links to phishing apps or APK files sent via messaging apps. The improvements follow the Android security documentation, which "provides a comprehensive overview of the platform's proactive, built-in security across hardware, exploit protection, Google Security Services, and the range of management APIs available to businesses and governments."