Sick of flipping through the Android Market, seeing a shiny new app, go to download it and find out it’s another malicious app? You certainly aren’t alone as countless of fellow Droiders hit that report button daily. Google, hearing the masses, has unveiled a level of protection in the form of Bouncer. Bouncer scans new apps for suspicious behaviors, trojans, malware and other malicious crap to keep it from taking residence in your favorite Android device. Not only that but it’s been scanning older apps to clean up the seedy underbelly of the Android Market.

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.

Google is claiming they’ve already seen a 40% decrease in malicious crappy apps between the first and second halves of 2011 due to their measures. Malware is the one thing that my Apple loving friends hold over me as I tap away on my Samsung GSII. Nice to see how Google is taking care of the junk and making the experience better for all.

Source: Google Blog

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• Google Adds A New Security Layer To The Android Market… A “Bouncer”, If You Will (techcrunch.com)
• Android App Trojans a False Alarm, Says Expert (devicemag.com)