GoKawiilAamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
An elderly relative, a gullible friend, or someone who just isn’t all that tech-savvy: we all have those people who make us wish that there were reverse parental controls on Android. The reality is that complicated UIs combined with malicious actors are making it easier than ever for scams and dodgy apps to target people who don’t always have their guard up.
Google’s Play Protect service is meant to defend users of the Play Store from malicious applications. But when my boyfriend’s grandmother asked me to help her with her Android phone, I realized that the service is failing to identify these apps.
Do you think Play Protect does enough to identify malicious apps? 15 votes Yes. 7 % No. 67 % It depends on the type of app. 27 %
Apps requesting excessive permissions target unwitting users
Andy Walker / Android Authority
While Google is introducing a new sideloading process, I think that if the company is serious about reducing scams on Android, it needs to look at the Play Store. I’ve heard multiple instances of people being tricked into installing dodgy apps through ads. These ads pose as system notifications and lead the user to a Play Store listing to download the app under the guise that it’s providing an essential feature or update. In reality, it’s just a vector to deliver more ads to generate revenue for the developers.
For example, my colleague Andy mentioned that his father tapped on an ad for a so-called critical update and ended up installing different PDF apps, which delivered more ads for more downloads.
When I was visiting my boyfriend’s grandmother, she complained of the incessant ads she was receiving on her phone. She kept receiving messages that she needed a new PDF reader or that her phone didn’t have enough space. She wasn’t sure what had caused the change; she just noticed one day that her UI had completely changed.
I told my boyfriend to help her run a malware scan on her phone. He had tried to help her before but wasn’t sure how to identify the app that was causing issues. He used Samsung’s Device Care app to scan the phone, and it identified one app with excessive ads. However, even after uninstalling it and receiving a clean scan, her UI had still not reverted to the original.
... continue reading