Google's ASI program has helped secure 275,000 apps

More than 90,000 app developers have been compelled to make improvements to over 275,000 apps through the Google Play App Security Improvement (ASI) program, according to Google.

The ASI now notifies developers of 26 potential security issues, providing resources and guidance to update their apps.

The process involves scanning apps published on the store for the 26 known vulnerabilities.

If an issue is found within an application, a developer receives an alert via email and the Google Play Developer Console encouraging the developer to patch the vulnerabilities.

Google provides a deadline for patching the issues it finds, and if developers do not comply with this time frame they can lose the ability to release future updates for the affected apps.

The number of apps updated under the program has been growing at an increasing rate — in April last year, that number was only 100,000, and the program launched in 2014.

In order to improve convenience for developers, Google now lists all 26 potential issues on a single page, and plans to keep the list updated as new potential issues come to light.

The ASI program initially scanned for embedded AWS credentials and was later updated to also scan for embedded Keystore files. Now it checks for a range of other issues, including use of known insecure SDKs.

Image courtesy of Leo Lambertini under CC