Google Online Security Blog: Android Security State of the Union 2014

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Android Security State of the Union 2014

2. April 2015

Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Lead Engineer for Android Securityreport

Over 1 billion devices are protected with Google Play which conducts 200 million security scans of devices per day.

Fewer than 1% of Android devices had a Potentially Harmful App (PHA) installed in 2014. Fewer than 0.15% of devices that only install from Google Play had a PHA installed.

The overall worldwide rate of Potentially Harmful Application (PHA) installs decreased by nearly 50% between Q1 and Q4 2014.

SafetyNet checks over 400 million connections per day for potential SSL issues.

Android and Android partners responded to 79 externally reported security issues, and over 25,000 applications in Google Play were updated following security notifications from Google Play.

We want to ensure that Android is a safe place, and this report has helped us take a look at how we did in the past year, and what we can still improve on. In 2015, we have already announced that we are being even more proactive in reviewing applications for all types of policy violations within Google Play. Outside of Google Play, we have also increased our efforts to enhance protections for specific higher-risk devices and regions.
As always, we are appreciate feedback on our report and suggestions for how we can improve Android. Contact us at security@android.com.