Android 9: The upcoming Android 9 mobile operating system this year comes with a number of new features and improvements, including a new security feature that will prevent apps from accessing the camera while it's running.
According to a recent Android Open Source Project (AOSP) commit (via XDA-Developers), Google have implemented a new security feature in Android's Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) kernel module that prevents the machine from accessing idle apps or services running in the background with a UID (User ID).
The security feature will not allow applications or services running in the background for a certain period of time, which could be set by the user or implemented by default, to access the camera. These could include spyware and other malicious programs that could spy on you through the device's camera.
“If the UID becomes idle, we turn off its cameras,” the report states. “If an app that is idle on the UID tries to use the camera, we immediately throw an error. Because apps should handle these errors, it is safe to enforce this policy across all apps to protect our users’ privacy,” it emphasizes.
This upcoming Android P security feature to block camera access to apps running in the background is a sign that Google is not kidding about enforcing security procedures to protect user privacy and freedom—something that has been long overdue—especially now that there are so many malicious Android apps on the Google Play Store.
