With the world directing all its attention elsewhere, cyberspace has silently become something of a dangerous component over the last year. Despite the fact that cyberattacks have been very much a part of digital realm’s fabric from the start, the nature of recent attacks has spelled one of the darkest periods ever witnessed in its context. The brazen attitude of the hackers has left an unimaginable amount of damage in its wake. Along with companies and the government, the common citizens have suffered a fair amount as well. Holding personal data for ransom and making attempts to hurt country’s infrastructure are the kind of activities grabbing more and more headlines these days, sending the panic level up a notch with every new case. Another malicious activity happening in the shadows has been privacy violations. If you keep an eye on tech news, you’d be well aware of the claims made against the likes of Google Play Store regarding not protecting their customers from threat actors disguised as app developers. The collection of data without obtaining the user’s consent got Google a lot of criticism from the experts as well as Google enthusiasts.
Now, in their response, Google have announced a set of measures on Monday to reinforce their security policies and regain their customer’s trust. The main element out of these measures is going to be the introduction of 2SV (2-Step Verification). This creates an additional security layer between developers and the end users. As a part of this shift towards a safer marketplace, Google has made it a mandatory requirement for the developers to specify an account type (Individual or organization), a contact name, and physical address. In addition, the verification of contact details will also be required.
An interesting detail emerging here is that Google now treats using Google Play console for signing in purposes as a compulsion. This is being done largely to avoid account takeover attacks. The implementation plan shared by Google reveals that the revised framework will go into effect for new developers by August 2021 at the latest. These changes will then be extended to the existing developer account owners later this year.