Security hasn’t exactly been one of the strong suits of
Android, something that Google has been trying hard to address lately. Or at
least give off that impression. Its latest Play Protect thrust really just
gives a public, and therefore marketable, face to the technologies that Google
has been using for years. And now it is putting that stamp right on the boxes
of Android devices that have undergone Google’s certification process and that,
therefore, ship with Google Play Store and Services.
Google can really only do so much to encourage users to only
install apps from its sanctioned repository, which basically boils down to just
the Google Play Store. Google can’t lock out users from sideloading APKs without
turning Android into a closed ecosystem like iOS. The best it can do, other
than make it a tad more involved to install unverified apps, is to preach how
Google Play Services protects users from malware.
That’s where Google Play Protect comes in. It is a new name
given to technologies and processes that Google has been applying to Android
for quite a while now, plus some new features as well. For example, it uses a
variety of machine learning techniques to block or weed out malware
masquerading as legitimate apps. That said, some still do fall through the
cracks.
Play Protect, however, only works if Google Play Services is
present and Google Play Services is only officially available on devices that
have passed Google’s certification requirements. Of course, there are ways to
unofficially install those, Google wants to assure buyers that the phone
they’re getting is certified from the get go. Hence why it’s slapping the Play
Protect logo on boxes of certified Android devices.
While understandable and, to some extent, ideal from a
security standpoint, this does serve to alienate not a few Android device
makers who, for one reason or another, don’t have that certification. Those
range from companies too small to afford the process, to OEMs like Xiaomi that
prefer their own brand of Google services, to companies like Amazon who live in
their own walled gardens.
