SAN FRANCISCO -- Android owners who use apps installed from outside of the Play Store will soon find their devices just a smidge safer, as Google announced at the RSA Conference here that Verify Apps will soon keep an eye on non-Play Store apps even after you install them.
Adrian Ludwig, Google's Android security engineer lead, said the change builds on the Verify Apps security feature introduced last year. He explained the change during a talk on how Google has created a secure open-source operating system.
When the Verify Apps option is checked, Google will scan apps installed outside of the Play Store to make sure they're not malicious. This was a one-time check, but the new component, which requires no additional changes by the user, will warn you when an app is determined to be malicious even if it passes muster the first time around.
Users will see a warning in the notification tray, so the ultimate decision to leave a suspected malicious app on the device remains up to the user. Google said the feature is rolling out in the coming weeks.
Ludwig mentioned the Verify Apps improvement while discussing Android's layered security protocol, which creates multiple levels of security including app sandboxing, permissions, additional security provided by third-party apps, and Android's basis on SELinux itself.
He also revealed some Android security facts indicating that the rate of infection from Potentially Harmful Apps is low.
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