Google measures reduce 98% of apps that access SMS messages and phone data

When in 2018 Google modified its Play Store security and privacy policies, it aimed to prevent applications from unnecessarily accessing sensitive user data, including SMS and call logging. The technological giant has now released a report on the effectiveness of the measures, noting that undue access to apps has decreased by 98%. And only at 100% because there are applications whose basic features really require access to data from calls and SMS messages.

And Google has no problem blocking any application with practical badges as a primary measure to protect users. And its mechanisms stood out in the process, having blocked about 790 thousand applications that violated security and privacy rules. The company also preferred an educational approach, working closely with companies and producers to update or remove tens of thousands of applications that violate the rules, to make the Play Store more secure.

Through its renewed Google Play Protect, the store's security system, 100 billion applications are scanned on a daily basis. Whenever it detects risks at the security level, it sends the respective users information about potential problems that may arise and the respective actions to be taken. In 2019 alone, the system blocked 1.9 billion attempts to install malware from sources outside Google Play, the company said.

For 2020, Google promises to continue on top of events and to invest in the security of its application ecosystem, namely to accelerate the detection and elimination of dangerous content and to reinforce its user security and privacy policies.