Google Play Protect fails malware detection test against Avast, McAfee & 14 other apps

Google Play Protect is a pre-installed malware detection and protection application that comes with Android OS. While the application is supposed to detect malicious applications and prevent them from being installed on an Android smartphone, it has failed a test in malware-detection test conducted by a German IT security institute Since Google Play Protect is available on more than 2.5 billion devices, it is a big concern for user's privacy and data protection. Keep reading to know more about the Google Play Protect malware detection test. 

Google Play Protect fails, detects only two-thirds out of 20,000 malicious applications 

The test was conducted by a German IT security Insitute 

AV-Test, a German IT security Institute conducted a test on Android applications to check the efficacy of malware detection applications available on Android. Surprisingly, Google Play Protect came out as the least effective application for protection against suspicious applications and malware. A total of 15 security applications were involved in the test, including AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Avast, NortonLifeLock and Trend Micro. The study was conducted for a duration of six months, from January 2021 to June 2021. 

Google Play Protect received six out of the total 18 points 

Out of the 15 applications that were taken for the study, nine received complete scores out of 18, which were marked on three parameters: Protection, Performance and Usability. The top-scoring applications, which are also the most effective applications against malware on Android are AVG, F-Secure, Avast, Bitdefender, G DATA, McAfee. Kaspersky, Trend Micro and NortonLifeLock. The applications that followed were Avira, Protected.net with a score of 17.8. Other products such as securiON, AhnLab and Ikarus received 17.5, 17.1, and 16.0 points. Google Play Protect was the last on the list, with 6 points. 

Google's default application missed out 33.33% of malicious applications 

According to the results, Google Play Protect detected only two-thirds of 20,000 malicious applications that were being used to check the effectiveness of Android malware detection applications. In other words, about 6,600 malicious applications were not detected by Google's default application. Considering the rise in cyber attacks and user privacy concerns, that is a concerning number. 

IMAGE: AV-TEST