Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Google has a malware problem in the Play Store
- Thread starter Kung gu
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So, the synopsis is. Don't download random junk off the Google App Store. Since Google can't check every program in detail. Just saved everyone 25 minutes of a guy rambling to foreboding conspiracy music and dark red lighting shifts. 🤣
Exactly. The only people that get malware from an android app are ones that don't use common sense.
To be fair, there’s been some bad press about problematic apps on the Apple App Store, too.
So, the synopsis is. Don't download random junk off the Google App Store. Since Google can't check every program in detail. Just saved everyone 25 minutes of a guy rambling to foreboding conspiracy music and dark red lighting shifts.
Seriously. I don’t get what is so hard to understand about this. People need to stop downloading random shady crap or have a secondary device to run those things on.
Hopefully soon Google will fully implement sandboxing functionality though. Put a new app in a sandbox by itself where it can’t interact with other apps or at least offer a sandbox for banking and messaging apps that separates everything except notifications from everything else in the phone.
Android devices are cheap, thus parents can easily buy them for kids. Kids don't have critical thinking skills.
To be fair, many adults also lack critical thinking skills.
Google itself pride its “security” of the Play Store. As a lay person, one would trust at least Google’s own App Store. Also, many of these apps are advertised in many other apps, where you have to watch an ad to do something on the app. Most of these ads are deceptive, even putting fake close button. Many people ended up installing things that they didn’t even intent to. So cannot just blame the user. Only Apple is allowed to blame the user
It's not just Google Play Store but a universal issue. It's a constant tug of war of filtering bad apps and bad apps finding new ways to evade detection. Just use common sense to avoid fly by night apps.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272849/apple-app-store-scams-ios-fraud-reviews-ratings-flicktype
https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272849/apple-app-store-scams-ios-fraud-reviews-ratings-flicktype
I'm always a bit surprised that the things that Apple does poorly for their App Store, Google doesn't even do that well. Google has a chance to check apps automatically and they apparently don't even do that. As least, they've enhanced tracking protection in Chrome.
Google definitely is doing a poorer job at policing their App Store. It’s as if they didn’t actually care about security, while being the largest market share of mobile phone OS.
This is why I subscribed to YouTube premium, so my parents won’t be downloading random apps from the boatload of ads. It’s one way. No free lunch in life.
They don't? Google has on device Play Protect scanning and cloud scanning with www.virustotal.com in addition to other layers of defenses such as blocking of malware download with Chrome.
That's wonderful, except that bad apps shouldn't even get to a device. They need to do that on their servers, during the submission process.
There's no such thing as 100%. In tech it's measured in terms of 9s.
I did software development for over 20 years. If you give your minimum, you don't get very far.
Complex issues require investigation and refinement, not a minimal effort.
Do you write 100% bug free code every time the first time? No one does. Not sure if you're familiar with concept of five 9s. That's not minimal effort but rather best effort with dose of reality.
Last edited:
Agreed 100%. This logic applies to Windows, too.
I grew up a Windows user, and I have always used Android phones up until about 2 years ago. I have never got malware on Windows once I learned common sense (I did get the occasional "virus" from limewire when I was like 10 and didn't realize exactly what I was doing). I never use an AV or anything on PCs anymore, I find it a pointless waste of the system's resources.
That's easy to say for people growing from PCs to smartphones. But majority of smartphone users around the world have their smartphone as their first ever computer. Add on the nature of "free" apps and endless mobile ads, even a conservative lay user can accidentally download a malicious app. Add on companies like Amazon and Epic that are teaching users to sideload apps as if that's a safe and normal thing to do.
Interesting deeper level read from the perspective of security practitioner and developer.
https://habr.com/en/post/580272/
https://habr.com/en/post/580272/
Good for you. It’s not exactly considered the best solution though…
In one recent review Google’s own solution wasn’t even recommended.
Mobile Security Review 2021
The latest Mobile Security Report 2021 is now available! 10 security products for Android have been thoroughly tested and reviewed!
www.av-comparatives.org
Good for you. It’s not exactly considered the best solution though…
In one recent review Google’s own solution wasn’t even recommended.
Mobile Security Review 2021
The latest Mobile Security Report 2021 is now available! 10 security products for Android have been thoroughly tested and reviewed!
Good for you if you believe in marketing. Does it detect and block Pegasus? Doubt it. That's why iOS/iPadoS 14.8 had to be released to patch the remote root vulnerability that installs RAT. Android, on the other hand, can only be rooted locally via tethered and not remote. And, unlocking the bootloader wipes all data so defeats the purpose of Pegasus.
No, I just don’t believe in ignoring facts. In your obvious zeal to slam all things Apple, you ignore the failings of Android. Of which there are heaps off.
Quit pointing fingers at the competitor without acknowledging that this is endemic to computers as a whole.
Your lack of objectivity is clear in your posts.