Google Launches New Anti-Theft Features for Android Phones

Google has introduced new Anti-Theft features and will soon roll it out across all the latest Android phones. How does this feature revolutionize mobile security?

Let’s face it: whenever someone finds out their phone is not in their bag or pocket or when it gets snatched by someone, their heart skips a beat. It’s because our smartphones contain a digital copy of our lives – photos, messages, app data, emails, contacts, and whatnot. 

Losing it suddenly is not only shocking, but it also poses a massive privacy risk. No one wants their phone’s data exposed to a random person. It feels like a violation of your personal space and leaves you scrambling to protect your information.

That’s why Google has been working on new anti-theft security upgrades for Android phones that use artificial intelligence and your phone’s sensors to detect and react if your device is stolen automatically.

In this write-up, you’ll find everything you need to know about Google’s new Theft Detection feature. Our experts, who specialize in app development on Android, will also discuss why businesses should consider integrating such unique, innovative security features while they develop Android apps to deliver superior, secure user experiences.

How Does Google’s New Anti-Theft System Work?

Google is rolling out a suite of AI-powered security features focused on protecting your phone if it gets stolen.

It uses the motion sensors in your phone – like the accelerometer and gyroscope – to detect suspicious patterns of movement that indicate your phone is being stolen. 

For example, suppose someone grabs your phone and starts running with it. In that case, the sudden jerking motion followed by quick acceleration is analyzed by machine learning algorithms to determine that a theft is likely occurring.

Once theft is detected, this feature automatically locks down and secures your device, even if you can’t manually activate security features once it’s taken. This prevents thieves from easily resetting or accessing your phone.

Specific Anti-Theft Features Added by Google

Android’s new Theft Detection system includes several upgrades meant to protect your phone before, during, and after such an unfortunate event:

• Screen Lock: The most essential feature is instantly locking down the screen when motion sensors detect suspicious theft movement. This prevents thieves from accessing your data.
• Factory Reset Protection: Making it much more difficult to completely wipe and factory reset stolen phones, preventing them from being resold.
• Private Spaces for Apps: Letting you hide your most sensitive apps behind additional authentication as an extra layer of security.
• Lost Device Marking: Remotely mark your device as “lost” on Google’s Find My Device service when you notice it’s stolen. This makes it easier to track.
• Automated Locking: If someone repeatedly tries and fails to unlock your phone, it will automatically lock down to protect data.
• Offline Lock: Remotely lock your device even if it has no reception or data connectivity at the moment of theft. This prevents disabling security before getting connectivity back.
• Remote Screen Lock: Use your phone number to verify your identity and lock the screen remotely.

Why Mobile Security Should Always Be A Top Priority

Theft isn’t the only security risk your mobile device faces. Your data is also at risk of breaches and hacks. While smartphone manufacturers keep introducing new features to enhance the security of your devices further, it often isn’t enough. 

With new advanced security threats introduced frequently, it’s important for product owners to ensure that their apps are not only safe from such attacks but also provide users with a secure, stable mobile app experience. 

Here are six security protocols businesses should consider while developing mobile apps to ensure better data privacy and user experiences:

1. User Authentication

Implementing secure user authentication is crucial for protecting app data and transactions. Techniques like multi-factor authentication (MFA), biometrics, and one-time passwords help validate user identities and block unauthorized access. 

For example, an e-commerce app can use fingerprint authentication and a user-generated password upon login. The fingerprint scan verifies the biometric identity of the user trying to access their account. 

Additionally, enabling one-time passwords sent to a user’s pre-registered mobile number or generated by an authenticator app provides a second layer of identity verification. Even if a traditional password is compromised in a data breach, the account remains protected by MFA guards.

2. Data Encryption

Encrypting sensitive data stored locally on devices and in transit over networks prevents unauthorized parties from accessing confidential information if devices are lost or communications are intercepted. 

For instance, an app collecting personal user data such as addresses, credit card information, etc., should encrypt all such data using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit keys before persistently storing it on the device’s internal storage. 

Similarly, for data exchange between client and server, using transport layer security (TLS 1.3) protocol or encrypting REST API calls provides encryption over the wire, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks that can steal information.

3. Secure Code Practices

Adhering to secure coding best practices like input validation, proper handling of sensitive data, and threat modeling makes apps more robust against exploits like code injection, man-in-the-middle attacks, etc. 

An app rendering interactive UIs based on user-supplied input requires server-side validation of expected data types and ranges before processing to prevent Javascript or SQL injection attempts. 

Additionally, securely handling user credentials by storing password hashes rather than plain text in databases is essential. Conducting regular architectural threat modeling analysis to simulate different attack scenarios highlights high-risk components that must be fixed early before launch.

4. App Attestation

App attestation verifies app integrity by detecting tampering and modifications to an app package. This ensures users download unmodified apps from app stores. 

An example is leveraging Google’s SafetyNet Attestation API, which generates an attestation certificate after assessing an Android app’s integrity. 

The certificate validates that an unmodified version of the app was installed successfully. This protects users from sideloaded apps with malicious injected payloads.

5. Vulnerability Testing

Regularly testing apps for vulnerabilities identifies weaknesses to be addressed. Techniques like external penetration testing, fuzz testing unexpected inputs, and static application security testing (SAST) help uncover holes and risks in different stages of an app’s SDLC pipeline before final release.

For instance, a penetration tester can run an authenticated end-to-end test of a mobile banking app. They may try accessing privileged account information via hosted man-in-the-middle tools in unsafe public Wi-Fi conditions. Such ethical hacking attempts simulate real-world risks and security breach scenarios.

6. Data Backups

Backing up data regularly enables recovery of apps and data in case devices are lost or impacted by malicious attacks seeking data destruction. In order to ensure end-to-end data security, development teams must apply encryption and robust access controls to backups before storing them.

For instance, an automatic backup of a health app’s medical records to an external cloud archive prevents backup compromise. Offline backups offer recovery guarantees if the applications themselves are compromised.

While it’s crucial for app development companies to keep rolling out new security features and updates every now and then, users must also constantly update their smartphone OS and apps to ensure maximum security.

Bottom Line

Google is trying its best to ensure the user experiences it delivers are feature-rich, stable, and secure. However, it’s also important for businesses to enable cutting-edge security features in their mobile apps.

It’s time to realize the significance of integrating diverse security features into your apps. If your team lacks the required skillset and resources to develop such features, we recommend partnering with the seasoned Android app development teams here at Cubix. 

So contact our representatives today to discuss your initiatives. Our teams carefully analyze your requirements and develop Android apps that resonate with your business needs and project vision.