14 DAY TRIAL // Google Play Store administrators have gone back on their decision to ban a cyber security training app after receiving countless emails from angry users.
Cybrary is an Android app that offers offline training courses on various cyber security topics, aimed at users who are on the go or don't have a reliable Internet connection all the time and need access to courses in a downloadable format.
The app was created by a team of developers led by Ryan Corey, and was first uploaded to the Play store on October 17. Before being taken down on November 24, the app had been downloaded over 50,000 times, which is more than impressive for a newly launched educational app.
As Mr. Corey describes in a long-winded blog post surrounding the incident, his app was banned from the Play Store after an app store reviewer misunderstood its purpose and thought it was a hacking application, which are prohibited on the Play Store, according to section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement (DDA).
While these kinds of incidents usually get resolved pretty quickly with an email, Mr. Corey was forced to oust his annoyance towards Google staff after countless emails he sent regarding his issue were only replied with the same canned response: "The app is in violation of section 4.4 of the Developer Distribution Agreement (DDA)."
Learning about cyber security is often labeled as a heinous act
Left with no other means of reaching Google's staff regarding a trivial issue, Mr. Corey asked the app's users to send an email to the Play Store staff, which most users did.
"It is not debatable that penetration testing is essential to cyber security professionals, institutions such as SANS, and many others, have been teaching it for years, simply because it is a highly critical skill set," explained Mr. Corey. "In order to pursue a large number of career paths within cyber security, or in order to advance one’s career as a cyber security professional, one must understand the principles of penetration testing. The concept of penetration testing is a highly sought after, under-served skill."
As you can imagine, after a flood of emails and a social media storm around the #censorship hashtag, Google was forced to recognize their mistake and reinstate the app.
This is just another case where education in hacking-related topics gets improperly labeled as malicious.
