Malicious applications are constantly infiltrating the Google Play store

Surely you know that in the Play Store you can find an application for virtually any purpose. It is known that the vast majority of apps from this source do not pose any risk. However, given how many apps there are, it’s certainly very difficult for Google to track whether each one meets certain criteria. According to the Android Community web portal, there are still a large number of malicious applications on Google Play.

Google Play Protect fails against third-party competition

It has happened many times in the past that quite a few suspicious applications have broken into the Play Store. These are mostly sought after by independent security companies. The problem is that Google alone noticed only two-thirds of the 20,000 infected applications.

The built-in protection of the Android operating system was introduced back in 2017. Every day, it checks over 100 billion applications on more than 2.5 billion active devices. The worse news, however, is that other third-party antiviruses have been able to detect more malicious applications than Google Play Protect itself.

In a security application accuracy test, antivirus programs handled 3,000 new infected applications and more than 3,000 titles older than a month. In the end, only five antiviruses were able to detect this malware with 100% accuracy in real time. The AV-TEST informs about the message.

Play Store Protection only detects two-thirds of applications infected with malware

Ultimately, Google Play Protect was able to deduce in real time that 68.8 percent of these apps contained malware. This is one of the weakest forms of protection, which is definitely unpleasant news, as it is a system built directly into the Play Store.

The question now arises as to whether it is necessary to use an application to protect against third-party viruses. Even though antivirus is built into Android, it may not be a bad idea to install another protection app.

Applications such as AhnLab V3, Avast Mobile Security, AVG, Avira, Mcafee, Kaspersky and Bitdefender are relatively weak batteries. However, this is already up to the personal preference of the end user. Unless you install suspicious-looking applications, the best antivirus is your own mind.