Tech giant Google has announced the release of the first developer preview for Android 14 which comes with security and privacy enhancements, among other things.
A highlighted security feature in Android 14 is to block the installation of malicious apps that target older API levels (Android versions), which allows easier abuse of sensitive permissions.
Starting with the “Runtime receivers,” which enable apps to receive intents broadcast by the system or other applications, all apps targeting Android 14 must declare if they need to receive information from other apps or if they should be limited to system “broadcasts.”
This new security measure continues the “Context.registerReceiver()” feature introduced in previous Android releases. It aims to prevent malicious apps on the device from intercepting or misusing broadcasts meant to reach other apps.
To further tighten up the information exchange between apps and prevent malware from gripping sensitive user data, Android 14 will also restrict the sending of “intents” that don’t have a specified recipient.
With this new security enhancement, malware can no longer intercept intents sent from other apps and read their contents.
