Dangerous apps in the Google Play Store decrease year by year

One of the biggest threats facing mobile device users is, without a doubt, rogue applications. They are everywhere and although it may seem incredible to us, they also manage to sneak into official stores. In fact, there have been many occasions in which they have appeared in the Google Play Store, the official store of apps for Android as if they did not want the thing.

Now, the company Google has released its fifth annual security and privacy report which reveals that, thankfully, the overall he alth of Android as an operating system has improved . Even if it's a bit.

We say a little bit because the number of downloads of potentially harmful applications has actually increased across the board. This is because click fraud is now also included in this category of malicious or, shall we say, undesirable applications

Potentially Harmful Apps in the Google Play Store

According to the report presented by Google, the percentage of potentially harmful applications downloaded from Google Play has gone from 0.02% in 2017 to 0.04 in 2018. From here they indicate that if we eliminate Compared to the numbers linked to click fraud, the data shows that the number of downloads of harmful apps from the Google Play Store has actually dropped by 31% per year

The truth is that for Google it should not be easy. Around the world there are more than two billion devices that work with Android, downloading content and applications in abundance. In recent years, however, the company has had to devise security solutions that contain the large number of malicious applications that are created to steal data from users

One of the most successful tools is Google Play Protect, a system that launched in 2017 and that works by scanning more 50 billion applications daily. In this way, the system can tell you in an updated way if there is any kind of problem with the application you are using.

Despite the figures, there is still malware on Google Play

Although Google has presented a certainly encouraging report regarding the number of malware downloads that occur from its own store, one thing must not be forgotten: malware It is still present in the Google Play Store.

In recent times new scams have been discovered in the form of applications, that have been able to sneak back into the store using different names.

For example, the security company Check Point recently alerted Google about the presence of an adware called Simbad in its store. More than 200 applications were infected and unfortunately, they had already been downloaded more than 150 million times.

Tips to avoid falling into the trap

Until some time ago, the essential recommendation to avoid falling into the clutches of malware was not to download applications from unofficial stores. But unfortunately, in recent years we have seen how, not infrequently, malware slipped into applications apparently reviewed and validated by Google's security teams.

Before downloading an application, even from the Google Play Store, it is advisable to:

• Make sure it is the official application, especially when it comes to bank apps or other tools that will store sensitive information. Go to the official page of the entity, company or organization to verify that it is the official app.
• Don't download apps like crazy. Make sure it's exactly what you need and forget about silly apps like flashlights, scanners, etc. Most of them are useless and full of .
• If you still want to download it, it's a good idea to review the app's score and user comments. Surely there you will get infallible clues to definitively rule out the download.