Google adds “bouncer” to Android Market to deal with malware
Google's anything goes approach to the Android Market certainly has its advantages, but one of the most criticized aspects of the strategy is its tendency to allow malware apps to flourish before a takedown can be served. Recently, there have been numerous scares, which, unfounded or not, have raised awareness of the issue.
In response, Google has revealed their plan for dealing with Android Market malware in their mobile blog. Basically, they are already running a service affectionately known as Bouncer on the Android Market servers. What Bouncer does is scan every single app in the Market for signs of spyware, malware, and trojans, as well as anything deemed suspicious code. Bouncer can even check new apps to make sure they're not copies of previously removed apps under a new name.
According to Google, Bouncer has actually been running for some time now. However, in light of recent FUD being spread by Symantics, it seems they wanted to make sure everyone knew they wore actively fighting malware. Even though we can't really tell, they say that the amount of malware in the Market actually decreased by about 40% last year, and users are also installing less malicious apps.
It's not perfect, but Bouncer is a step in the right direction. It should be comforting to users that Google is concerned about keeping their platform secure, and things should keep getting better from here.
[Google Mobile Blog]
