Google Bouncer steps in to kill malicious Android Apps

[Jack]

Today we’re revealing a service we’ve developed, codenamed Bouncer, which provides automated scanning of Android Market for potentially malicious software without disrupting the user experience of Android Market or requiring developers to go through an application approval process.

The service performs a set of analyses on new applications, applications already in Android Market, and developer accounts. Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.

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[Jack]

This has to be a bad day for Symantec's PR department....
A very interesting and need it security layer of protection , which will definitively remove the very few apps that occasionally managed to sneak into the Chinese and Russian Android Markets.

 

[Vextor]

Ineffective. All a person has to do is easily write a flawed piece of malware (that would work but be seen through), then go ahead and check that connection and how Bouncer checks.
After the account goes down, use a VPN to re-create a developers account. Then create a great piece of malware that does something that Bouncer doesn't check and your clear. Very, ineffective.
Google, work harder

 

[MrXidus]

If it helps remove some malicious apps, I approve.

 

[WinAndLinuxTutorials]

Great move!
Wars with malware will never end, but this idea decreases the number of malware on the android market, making it a safe place (but not 100%) for people to get applications for Android.

+1 for Google and Jack.

 

[Ink]

Google Bouncer Won't Block All Android Malware

Will the newly announced Google Bouncer help the company prevent all fraudulent and malicious apps from sneaking into its Android Market?

Google last week revealed that it had already deployed Bouncer last year, and that the technology had led to "a 40% decrease in the number of potentially malicious downloads from Android Market" between the first and second half of 2011. That wording is notable: Google isn't discussing the number of potentially bad apps that it blocked, but rather the number of times that people didn't download a potentially bad app.

Sources