158,000 Malicious Android Developer Accounts Banned By Google

In 2024, Google reported that they had halted the release of around 2.36 million Android apps. These apps did not follow the guidelines set by the Google Play App market. Not only this but more than 158,000 developers’ accounts that attempted to spread malicious apps were also banned by the company. 

The company highlighted its collaboration with third-party app developers. This collaboration led to the blocking of 1.3 million applications from getting unnecessary access to sensitive information of the users during this period. 

Moreover, Google Play Protect, which is a built-in security feature on Android devices designed to detect emerging threats was able to identify 13 million new malicious apps. These apps were not part of the official app store. 

Bethel Otuteye and Khawaja Shams from the Android Security and  Privacy Team, together with Aquino from Google Play Trust and Safety released the data. It mentioned that over 91% of app installations on the Google Play Store now benefit from the latest security measures that are provided by Android 13 or newer. 

In 2022, 1.43 million harmful apps were blocked by the company, whereas in 2023, the number increased to 2.28 million. Furthermore, the developers that use the Play Integrity API saw a decrease of 80% in app usage from unreliable and unverified sources. 

Additionally, proactive measures used by Google automatically block the sideloading of potentially unsafe apps in several regions. These regions include Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam have protected. They have protected 10 million devices from over 36 million risky installation attempts that involve more than 200,000 unique apps. To further boost security, Google has recently announced the introduction of a new verified badge for consumer-facing VPN apps. It has successfully passed a Mobile Application Security Assessment (MASA).

Reena Choudhary

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