Google, Meta, Microsoft to join forces defending apps from hackers
The tech giants have formally partnered to improve app security across ecosystems under a newly formed structure.
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The tech giants have formally partnered to improve app security across ecosystems under a newly formed structure.
Google, Microsoft, and Meta have founded a steering committee to improve app security through a newly restructured App Defense Alliance, which is part of the Linux Foundation family.
The tech trio plans “to expand the scope of the Alliance to foster collaborative implementation of industry standards for app security,” the press release reads.
The App Defense Alliance was established by Google in 2019 to ensure the safety of the Google Play Store and the Android app ecosystem. It focused on malware detection and prevention.
The Alliance expanded its scope in 2022, emphasizing app security standards. It is now home to several industry-wide collaborations for malware mitigation and app security assessments for cloud and mobile applications.
The hope for further evolution is to demonstrate a shared commitment by the members to strengthen app security and related standards across ecosystems.
The Alliance now has 17 members.
“The App Defense Alliance will help further strengthen trust and confidence in overall app safety by uniting with others in the industry that share an unwavering commitment to protect users,” said Dave Kleidermacher, VP of Engineering for Android and Made-by-Google Security & Privacy at Google.
Jenny Hall, Director of Reality Labs Trust at Meta, noted that thriving app ecosystems depend on trust, and the Alliance will help to define open data and user protection standards.
Oliver Bell, General Manager of Trust and Privacy at Microsoft, hopes the alliance will help empower developers and end users to “build and trust the huge array of solutions in the third-party application ecosystem.”
General and Contributor Members of the App Defense Alliance include BishopFox, Dekra, ESET, KPMG, Leviathan, Lookout, McAfee, NCC Group, NetSentries Technologies FZCO, NowSecure, Orange Cyberdefense South Africa Ltd, Prescient Security, PwC, Schellman, TAC Security, TrendMicro, and Zimperium.