Google scans Android apps in real-time to prevent malware

Google will start implementing new real-time scanning features in its security system, Play Protect, to make it more challenging for malicious Android apps that employ polymorphism. As a result, Android device users should be able to experience a significant reduction in malware infections in the system. Google Play Protect evolves even further with this measure.   

Previously, Google Play Protect relied on periodic scans of apps to identify potential threats. However, this approach could leave devices vulnerable to newly developed malware that hadn't yet been flagged by Google's security systems.

Play Protect is Google’s malware protection tool for Android devices. With real-time scanning, Google Play Protect can now analyze apps during the installation process, extracting important signals from the app's code and sending them to Google's backend infrastructure for a code-level evaluation.

On its security blog, Google says that, Play Protect had previously done real-time checks to catch known malicious apps and apps similar to them, along with other suspicious apps flagged by on-device machine learning. When Play Protect makes a detection during the app installation process, it would then alert users of the potential malware.

Secondly, this real-time analysis allows for a more immediate assessment of the app's safety, potentially preventing the installation of malicious apps before they can cause harm.

This enhancement is particularly effective against polymorphic malware, which can morph and change its code to evade detection by traditional security measures. By analyzing the app's behavior and code structure in real-time, Google Play Protect can better identify these evasive threats.

The real-time scanning feature is currently being rolled out to Android devices globally and will be available to all users in the coming weeks. This new capability represents a significant step forward in Google's efforts to protect Android users from malware and other security threats.