The threat of an attack isn’t hypothetical.
“By encouraging users to download Fortnite outside of the Play Store, Epic Games leave their players vulnerable to malicious copycat apps being installed accidentally if they go to the wrong site.” “Android devices are already far more susceptible to malware than Apple devices, with the greatest protection being to always download apps from the Play Store as these apps are screened for malware, which prevents most malicious apps from being installed,” Shapland added. “Epic Games’ decision to publish the Android version of Fortnite outside of the Play Store is a very poor choice for the security of their players,” said Rob Shapland, principle cyber security consultant at Falanx Group. But the option is disabled by default, and security experts have warned that this is for good reason. Unlike iOS, Android allows users to install apps downloaded from the internet, and even to install competing app stores altogether.
