We already covered all of the fun new features introduced today by Google that you’ll soon be playing with on your Android phone. There are more than a dozen new toys for you to learn about and get excited for. But this is Android and security is as big of a component as anything.
As a part of today’s Android festivities, Google covered numerous security enhancements they will soon begin rolling out to better protect users.
Here’s the list of what’s coming soon to Android on a security front.
- Enhanced protection for bank scam calls: Google has started working with select banks to help fight scammers who spoof calls and make them look official. Depending on the bank, if a call comes through that looks official, Android can now verify the call with the bank’s banking app. If it can’t be verified, the call is immediately ended. Banks will also start designating some of their numbers as inbound-only, so Google will know that calls from them can be ended.
- Live Threat Detection expansion: Google will expand its Live Threat Detection feature to cover SMS forwarding and the accessibility overlay. If an app tries to change or hide icons, launch from the background, or abuse accessibility permissions, Android can recognize and shut these down.
- Chrome protections: In Chrome for Android, Google will utilize Safe Browsing to evaluate APK files that you’ve attempted to download to see if they are known for malware and then stop you from downloading them.
- New device theft protections: Android’s Mark as Lost feature will gain the ability to lock a phone with biometric authentication, which could save your device if a thief knows your PIN or password. And when you mark as lost, Android 17 will hide Quick Settings and disable new WiFi and Bluetooth connections.
- New location sharing button, transparency: A new location-sharing button is coming to Android 17 that only allows temporary precise sharing access while in active use. Android 17 is also making it even more clear that location access is being shared with an indicator at the top of the screen that can be tapped-on to see other apps that recently used that permission. Finally, there’s also a new contact picker, so you can grant access to only specific contacts instead of your entire address book.
- Android build verification: Even though it would be very difficult to get a bad version of Android running on a mainstream device, Google says that “some” bad actors have begun distributing unofficial, modified versions of Android. In Android 17, there’s a new Android OS verification launching first on Pixel devices that will show if your version is verified.
- OTPs: in Android 17, if you get one-time passwords, the system will now hide them from other apps for three hours.
- Disable 2G toggle: Carriers can take advantage of an option within Android 17 that can set 2G connections to “off” by default. The thought here is that older technologies like 2G with vulnerabilities could be used by scammers.
There’s a lot more in the Android security realm that I suggest you read through at Google’s announcement post.
