Google Malaysia today held the Google 2026 APAC Online Safety Dialogue event where they announced a number of new digital safety features for users, and along with it, collaborations with various parties in the ASEAN and APAC regions to ensure that applications offered through the Google Play Store are safe to download and use.
Among the announcements made was the introduction of the Enhanced Fraud Protection (EFP) function under the Google Play Protect security feature umbrella for the Malaysian market. With this feature, Google Play Protect will constantly scan applications on the Google Play Store for applications that request permission to access four sensitive APIs of a device, including READ_SMS, RECEIVE_SMS, BIND_Notifications, and Accessibility.
Apart from that, the EFP feature will also prevent applications from intercepting OTP codes received via SMS and prevent them from recording screens or inputs from financial and banking applications. This feature has been tested in India and Singapore previously.
The Google Play Protect feature is usually enabled by default on every modern device, but if you want to access it yourself, you can go to the Settings page of your Google Play Store app, and it can be found under the Google Play Protect menu.
In the meantime, the Google Play Store will also soon ask local developers and financial institutions to increase accountability for the security of applications offered through the Google Play Store software:
Android Developer Verification: Mandatory developer identity verification will be introduced to prevent serious offenders from distributing dangerous applications. By 2027, all applications on Android devices verified in Malaysia must come from legitimate developers.
Financial Services Verification (FSV): Starting April 14, 2026, advertisers promoting financial services must be verified by regulators such as Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission of Malaysia before they can run ads on Google platforms, to help block fraudulent financial promotions.
