Sean Hollister

Dr. Qian is explaining the security concept of “defense in depth,” using a castle with a moat, drawbridge, walls, and guards as an analogy.

That’s Google’s security expert. He told Google’s lawyer that sideloaded apps inherently have a higher risk of being malware (because they haven’t been reviewed, which seems obvious), that the research is consistent that sideloaded apps are riskier, and that entities like Samsung and Verizon warn their users about the risks of sideloaded apps.

Now that Epic’s expert Professor Mickens is no longer on the stand, his Google counterpart is taking advantage — twice suggesting to the jury that Mickens would agree that some of Google’s existing screens make sense, at least in terms of ensuring user consent to an app install.

Google’s security expert Dr. Qian is describing various types of annoying and scary malware that have hit Android devices, including adware, ransomware, and spyware. One example was a fake Cyberpunk 2077 game that wasn’t a game at all.

He’s a professor at UC Riverside who spent two years working on Android anti-malware solutions, and Google is taking care of a question about his financial conflict of interests right away: his lab received a grant from Google for a couple hundred thousand dollars, but he says it was less than 5 percent of the lab’s funding and received none personally.

Mickens, prompted by Epic’s attorney, says the Switch, PlayStation and Xbox gaming devices — not general purpose computers like an Android phone — and that game consoles are often sold at a loss, making their money back on software, so there’s an economic reason to lock them down.

Mickens says his notarization proposals would keep that optional.

Google also tried to draw him into some questions to promote its “we compete with the iPhone” narrative, asking if Android was much less restrictive than iOS (he agreed) and if Apple hammers Android on security in its marketing.

We’re seeing that after we eliminate steps in the modern install flow that are out of the Android operating system’s direct control, there are few that Mickens takes issue with — mostly just the scare screens.

“All APK/XAPK files on APKFab.com are original and 100% safe with fast download,” reads the listing at APKFab, which also has a fancy “Trusted App” badge with a green checkmark.