Even applications from trustworthy established sources can prove dangerous in the wrong circumstances. Increased personal device use in the workplace seems inevitable, but needs to be strengthened by adequate app security protections. One of the latest malware scares stems from the Google Play application marketplace, where three different Android apps have been linked to potential security risks.
Since users in the workplace can access work applications devices that are also used to run personal apps, it's important to keep the two from mixing. The dangers of this recent app problem were identified by Filip Chytry in a blog post for the computer security company Avast.
Chytry listed the three different apps that have been linked to malware: a card game called Durak, a history app and an IQ test. The associated malware is designed to infect the phone and take action slowly, sometimes going unnoticed until 30 days after the initial download. Eventually, the malware launches fake warnings to direct users to scam webpages after their devices are unlocked. Millions of people have already downloaded these apps.
Google Play has since removed the offending apps from its store, but considering how many people have downloaded these apps, the damage may already be done. A spokeswoman from Google explained the company's policies for testig app security before sale begins in a statement quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
"We scan apps as they are uploaded to Google Play, running each app to detect and remove malware, spyware and Trojans from Google Play," she said. "As we discover new pieces of malware, our systems are able to go back through all of Google Play and remove any suspicious files from the store."
Companies can safeguard their own legacy applications by placing them in a cloud environment through a reliable migration solution. A tested process for screen-based devices will bring these older software models into the 21st century and users that they won't cause any problems in the workplace when they are launched.