android-security
Google has released a report overnight which addresses the state of Android security for 2014. The report goes through the different types of malware which have been detected and caught by the multi-layered approach Google takes to keep Android safe. Google uses encryption and application sandboxes, as well as manual and automated checks on applications to root out malware before it becomes an issue.

The full report is available to read through as a PDF, but if you don’t have time to trawl through the 44 page report, the salient points include :

  • Over 1 billion devices are protected with Google Play which conducts 200 million security scans of devices per day.
  • Fewer than 1% of Android devices had a Potentially Harmful App (PHA) installed in 2014. Fewer than 0.15% of devices that only install from Google Play had a PHA installed.
  • The overall worldwide rate of Potentially Harmful Application (PHA) installs decreased by nearly 50% between Q1 and Q4 2014.
  • SafetyNet checks over 400 million connections per day for potential SSL issues.
  • Android and Android partners responded to 79 externally reported security issues, and over 25,000 applications in Google Play were updated following security notifications from Google Play.
  • While Google still checks applications installed from outside of Google Play, the best way to stay safe is to only install applications from Google Play. Apps from Google Play are subject to the newest safeguard put in place by Google to protect users, the manual review process for apps which Google recently announced.

    The report is an interesting, though somewhat dry read, but worth a look if you have time.

    Source: Google Online Security Blog.
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      Darren Ferguson

      Most security scares reported in the media include people turning on the untrusted apps setting, accepting the security warning and then installing whatever app they are presented with.

      JeniSkunk

      Also, Google’s malware scanner flags legitimate system modifying apps as malware.
      example: Framaroot, downloaded from XDA.
      Google claims that Framaroot is system harmful and that I should ‘uninstall this app immediately’.