Security on Android is, as we have been counting for some time now, one of the priorities for Google. And it is that, due to the operating model of its application store, especially during its early years, malware was at home in the software store with which Google wanted to stand up to Apple with its iOS App Store. A model that is too lax compared to a model that is too restrictive, seen from a middle point.
As I said, however, for years Google decided to get down to work to “secure” its store, adding more and more filters and measures intended both to analyze the new apps uploaded by developers, and to check those already available and their updates. And it is that a fairly common technique is to upload a clean app to the Google Play Store that passes the filters, but take advantage of an update to introduce some harmful element, either in its own code, or by downloading a payload once. once the app is already installed on the device.
Be that as it may, the consequence is that Google constantly detects and eliminates apps that turn out to be harmful and, as we can read on Yahoo!, it has recently struck again in this regard, with the removal of more than 12 apps from Google Play. The removed content ranges from a weather app to prayer apps for Muslims and a QR code reader. Some of these apps had more than 10 million downloads, so their diffusion is quite high.
The common denominator of all this software removed from the Google Play Store is that was dedicated, incognito, to collect information about the user and their contacts: locations, phone numbers, email addresses, etc., which are later sent to those responsible for said apps, who use them for all kinds of purposes, from phishing campaigns to their sale on the black market, in large databases. data.
Nevertheless, This does not mean that apps are prohibited from accessing this type of information., as there are cases in which it is necessary for them to carry out their functions. Thus, what Google emphasizes in this type of action is that the user must be fully informed of both the information obtained by the app and the use that will be given to it. In this sense, in December 2021, Google stated that applications that do not comply with its data policy could be banned from the Play Store.
