Google announced a new 'App Defense Alliance' with security companies Eset, Lookout and Zimperium. The aim is to protect users on the Google Play store from harmful apps.
With over 2.5 billion devices, the Android ecosystem is an attractive target for malicious app makers. The members of the alliance will share risk intelligence to prevent harmful apps from reaching the Play store.
The Google Play Protect detection systems will integrate with each partner’s scanning engines. This will generate new app risk intelligence as apps are being queued to publish. Partners will analyze that dataset and act as another set of eyes prior to an app going live on the Play Store.
The alliance partners were selected for their successes in finding potential threats and their dedication to improving the ecosystem, Google said, noting these partners are regularly recognized in analyst reports for their work.
