Google Android Market Gets Security Makeover – Codename Bouncer: Ten Best Security Apps

Google now scans apps in the Android Market for security issues, and the makeover now has a sort of watchdog looking over the system. It's called Bouncer, and it combs through existing apps, new apps and even developer accounts. Security in the open source Android Market has long been a weak point in the Android system, and Google has finally begun to address it.

Bouncer looks for malware, spyware and trojans as soon as an app enters the Market. Bouncer has been doing this for a few months now, at least, and there was a 40% drop in the number of potentially malicious downloads from the market in 2011, Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of Android engineering wrote on the Google Mobile blog.

While it's not possible to prevent bad people from building malware, the most important measurement is whether those bad applications are being installed from Android Market - and we know the rate is declining significantly, he wrote

There's three main ways Google is now protecting Android apps. A process called sandboxing is used to build a wall between apps so if one does go rogue, it won't be able to infect other parts of the device. The permissions let you see what an app is doing so if it's asking to do something it doesn't really need, then you can just ignore that app. Google can even remote wipe an app from your device if need be. Feel better about Android app security? If not, (or even if you are) check out these then security apps for extra protection. Start the slideshow to see the ten best security apps. Tell us in the comments if you think this is a huge plus for Android or if it's something Google should have done long ago.

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