The number of malware attacks on Android smartphones is increasing day in day out. Google has been taking some steps to protect their users in recent months. Now they are implementing a powerful new security features to android OS - an inbuilt malware scanner that scans app for malicious code.
Whenever you install an app from a source other than the Play Store -- including a third-party app market like Amazon's app store, Android pops up a box asking if you want such applications to be checked for "harmful behavior."
If user don't want to display a pop-up whenever installing new app, there is "checkbox" in the security section of the 4.2 system settings that lets you turn the service on or off at any point.
"We have a catalog of 700,000 applications in the Play Store, and beyond that, we're always scanning stuff on the Web in terms of APKs that are appearing," Lockheimer says. "We have a pretty good understanding of the app ecosystem now, whether something's in the Play Store or not."
