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Droidcon is a registered trademark of Mobile Seasons GmbH

1. A day in the life of a mobile reverse engineer

Alec Guertin

2. Why does Google think my app is harmful?

Reverse Engineer

Google Play Protect

Alec is a reverse engineer with Google Play Protect, Google’s program for fighting malware in the Android ecosystem. He has been working on malware analysis and software engineering with Android Security team for 2 years, currently focusing on preventing pre-installed threats. In the past, Alec has spoken at seurity conferences such as MOSEC and CARO.


1. This talk will show you how we handle mobile applications in Android Security from a malware analyst point of view.

2. In this talk, we will cover how Google defines harmful behavior in Android applications and how developers can avoid common pitfalls that result in their apps being flagged as MUwS (Mobile Unwanted Software) or PHA (Potentially Harmful Apps) by Google Play Protect.