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As reported in a ZDNet post, NortonLifeLock (formerly Symantec) conducted the largest study of its kind, analyzing installations on more than 12 million Android devices. A four-month period between June and September 2019 was analyzed, and the researchers looked at more than 34 million APK installs for 7.9 million unique apps.
Security experts said that, based on the Android app’s rating, between 10 and 24 percent of the apps analyzed could be labeled as malicious or unwanted. NortonLifeLock went on to say that they grouped the Android apps they viewed into 12 different categories, one of which was apps installed from the official Google Play store.
Other categories they designated included third-party marketplace apps, apps installed through a web browser, preloaded bloatware apps, and apps installed through package installers. Surprisingly, given the wide range of possible app sources, the researchers said that the Google Play Store was the largest distributor of PUAs.
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