Google is ready to challenge the ongoing fraud issue for Android users. The company has started its enhanced fraud protection’ with Google Play Protect that promises to shield Android users from financial fraud attacks.
Google is starting this feature with Singapore in partnership with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) in the coming weeks.
According to the company, this enhanced fraud protection will analyse and automatically block the installation of apps that may use sensitive runtime permissions frequently abused for financial fraud when the user attempts to install the app from an Internet-sideloading source (web browsers, messaging apps or file managers).
“This enhancement will inspect the permissions the app declared in real-time and specifically look for four runtime permission requests: RECEIVE_SMS, READ_SMS, BIND_Notifications, and Accessibility,” the company said.
These permissions are frequently abused by scammers to intercept one-time passwords via SMS or notifications, as well as spy on screen content.
Google’s analysis of major fraud malware families that exploit these sensitive runtime permissions found that over 95 per cent of installations came from Internet-sideloading sources.
It is vital that Google finds a solution to a big menace that is financial frauds. People in India complain about these scams at every second day and the company has clearly not done enough to thwart such attack. The company could have considered India as one of the major countries to pilot test this new feature but it is likely to happen in the coming months.
(With IANS inputs)
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