Today, Google announced new security features coming to Android 15 and Google Play that will help block scams, fraud, and malware apps on users' devices.
Announced at Google I/O 2024, the new features are designed not only to help end users but also to warn developers when their apps have been tampered with.
Google is introducing numerous new features in Android 15 that are aimed at blocking banking trojans and spyware from stealing your information.
Over the years, researchers have illustrated how Android malware commonly steals one-time passcodes from messages and notifications.
Last year, a new version of the Xenomorph Android malware took it a step further by allowing MFA codes to be stolen from Google Authenticator.
Google has announced new security features that cause one-time passcodes to be hidden from notifications so that malware cannot steal them.
The company is also expanding its restricted settings feature to include additional permissions that users must explicitly grant apps to prevent them from stealing data.
Google says they are also introducing new features that protect against screen-sharing attacks conducted via social engineering.
Finally, Google is rolling out notifications alerting you when connected to an unencrypted cellular network to block Stingray attacks.
Google says they are introducing a new feature called Google Play Protect live threat detection, which uses on-device artificial intelligence to detect when an Android app performs suspicious behavior.
The app is then sent back to Google for review, and users are warned to disable it until it can be determined if it is malicious.
For developers, Google has updated its Play Integrity API to allow developers to check if apps are running in secure environments.
Risk From Screen Capturing or Remote Access: Developers can check if there are other apps running that could be capturing the screen, creating overlays, or controlling the device.
Risk From Known Malware: Developers can check if Google Play Protect is active and the user device is free of known malware before performing sensitive actions or handling sensitive data.
Google says all these features will be rolling out to Google Play and Android 15 throughout the year.
Free VPN apps on Google Play turned Android phones into proxies.
Finland warns of Android malware attacks breaching bank accounts.
Google now pays up to $450,000 for RCE bugs in some Android apps.
New Wpeeper Android malware hides behind hacked WordPress sites.
Google rejected 2.28 million risky Android apps from Play store in 2023.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Wed, 15 May 2024 19:55:08 +0000