Android and Security

[Jailani]

Recently, there’s been a lot of news coverage of malware in the mobile
space. Over on our Mobile blog, Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of Android
engineering, has posted Android and Security. We think most Android
developers will find it interesting reading.

Android and Security

Thursday, February 2, 2012 | 12:03 PM

By Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of Engineering, Android

The last year has been a phenomenal one for the Android ecosystem.
Device activations grew 250% year-on-year, and the total number of app
downloads from Android Market topped 11 billion. As the platform
continues to grow, we’re focused on bringing you the best new features
and innovations - including in security.

Adding a new layer to Android security
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.

Android malware downloads are decreasing
The service has been looking for malicious apps in Market for a while
now, and between the first and second halves of 2011, we saw a 40%
decrease in the number of potentially-malicious downloads from Android
Market. This drop occurred at the same time that companies who market
and sell anti-malware and security software have been reporting that
malicious applications are on the rise. While it’s not possible to
prevent bad people from building malware, the most important
measurement is whether those bad applications are being installed from
Android Market - and we know the rate is declining significantly.

Android makes malware less potent
In addition to using new services to help prevent malware, we designed
Android from the beginning to make mobile malware less disruptive. In
the PC model, malware has more potential to misuse your information.
We learned from this approach, designing Android for Internet-
connected devices. Some of Android’s core security features are:

Sandboxing: The Android platform uses a technique called
“sandboxing” to put virtual walls between applications and other
software on the device. So, if you download a malicious application,
it can't access data on other parts of your phone and its potential
harm is drastically limited.
Permissions: Android provides a permission system to help you
understand the capabilities of the apps you install, and manage your
own preferences. That way, if you see a game unnecessarily requests
permission to send SMS, for example, you don’t need to install it.
Malware removal: Android is designed to prevent malware from
modifying the platform or hiding from you, so it can be easily removed
if your device is affected. Android Market also has the capability of
remotely removing malware from your phone or tablet, if required.

No security approach is foolproof, and added scrutiny can often lead
to important improvements. Our systems are getting better at detecting
and eliminating malware every day, and we continue to invite the
community to work with us to keep Android safe.

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/