Google said a permissions flaw that puts Android users at heightened risk of malware, ransomware and adware attacks will not be fixed until the release of its next mobile OS, Android O.

More than 200 Android mobile applications listen surreptitiously for ultrasonic beacons embedded in audio that are used to track users and serve them with targeted advertising.

An Android app that falsely claimed to be a tool for keeping smartphones up-to-date with the latest version of the OS was found surreptitiously tracking the physical location of it users using spyware called SMSVova.

At the Kaspersky Lab Security Analyst Summit, Android Security Team malware analyst Elena Kovakina explained Google’s strategy for countering ransomware on Android.

More than a dozen apps removed from Google Play store after it was determined they were overly aggressive adware.

Google said half of Android devices are unpatched and that percentage of potentially harmful apps on phones installed from all sources rose in 2016.

Google removed 132 apps infected with malicious iFrames from its Google Play store.

Google’s Android security director touts 2016 mobile OS security accomplishments from encryption, improved APIs and new developer testing tools at the RSA Conference.

Academics studying 283 Android VPN apps quantified a number of problems associated with native platform support for VPN clients through the BIND_VPN_SERVICE.

Security researchers have identified a new and evasive mobile ransomware strain called Charger on the Google Play app store.