Android apps are apparently now more secure than ever
Four out of five Android apps now encrypt their traffic using HTTPS
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Google’s push for broader adoption of theHTTPSstandard is paying off and now 80 percent of all Android apps are encrypting their traffic by default.
In ablog post, the search giant said that four out of five Android apps in theGoogle Play Storeare encrypting their network traffic using HTTPS which means that the data sent to and from these apps cannot be intercepted or read by third-parties.
Google also expects the number of apps using HTTPS to grow in the coming years as the result of a series of measures the company began rolling out in 2016 such as warnings in IDE tools and theGoogle Playdeveloper dashboard.
This is one area in which Google has been able to outperformAppleas the iPhone maker has had difficulty getting its app developers to use HTTPS. In fact, according to one report published in June, only a third of iOS apps are using ATS to encrypt their network traffic.
HTTPS adoption
In addition to getting Android app developers to use HTTPS, Google has also been successful at getting websites to adopt the new standard as opposed to using HTTP which is vulnerable to SQL injections as well as cross site scripting (XSS).
The company’sTransparency Reporteven shows that HTTPS usage in Google Chrome is now somewhere between 85 and 95 percent depending on the platform. For instance, 89 percent of all websites loaded inside Chrome on Android are now loaded via HTTPS, while on Chrome for Windows, this number is 84 percent.
Mozilla has made similar progress and back in September, it revealed that over 80 percent of all web pages loaded inFirefoxare now loaded via HTTPS.
Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!
ViaZDNet
After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
Washington state court systems taken offline following cyberattack
Is it still worth using Proton VPN Free?
7 myths about email security everyone should stop believing
