Happy Friday,
According last month's figures, Android (Google) dominates the global smartphone market with a 70.69% share, while iPhone (iOS) has a 28.58% market share.
It should then come as no surprise that Android's Play Store has become a prime hunting ground for crooks and nation state actors alike to lure victims with shiny and fun apps, laced with malicious code that hacks, steals and takes over Android phones.
In a report published this week by Google, 2.28 million Android apps were blocked from being published on Google Play after finding various policy violations that could threaten user's security.
They also identified and blocked 333,000 Google Play accounts that uploaded malware, fraudulent apps, or engaged in repeated grave policy violations. By comparison, in 2022 Google blocked 1.5 million "bad" apps and suspended 173,000 developer accounts, so the number of bad guys has almost doubled.
The Takeaway
Google does their best to fight the tsunami of crooks invading the Play store, but it's up to you to keep the bad apps off your phones. Make sure you:
Only downloads apps from the Google Play store. Avoid installing APKs from poorly vetted third-party stores.
Make sure that Play Protect is active on the device by opening the Google Play Store app > tap the profile icon in the top right > tap Play Protect Settings > turn Scan apps with Play Protect on.
Review app permissions. Does that puzzle game really need access to your phone's contacts? Open Settings > tap Security and Privacy or Privacy > tap Privacy Dashboard > select the permission you want to check and tap on an app to update what it has access to.
Does your phone run slow, the battery running out faster than usual, there's noises during phone calls, usual behavior such as random reboots or going to sleep, strange text messages or emails or it's constantly overheating?
If this is happening to you or someone you know, best to take it to the phone carrier's store right away to have them have a look at it.
Stay safe out there. -A
PS. Check out our short video on our presentation at this year's Hotel & Restaurant Show where we did a live lock picking demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlK-rvz-KkA
Also, Happy Birthday Adam!
