Recently we had an opportunity to speak with Amina Zilic , the R&D Engineer at Zemana Ltd about Zemana Mobile Antivirus

Please share with us the backstory of what motivated you to create this app.

As mobile devices become increasingly popular, many people stopped touching their computers. Mobile security became a major issue but public awareness about mobile threats didn't increase in the same extent.

A malware can know where you are by accessing GPS, can listen your environment by using microphone, can see you by using camera, can read your messages, or listen to your phone calls. These are easy and we can't wait for public awareness or a major outbreak to start protecting mobile phones.

About Zemana team, there are three people in mobile security development team. They have overall knowledge about the whole project. One of them focused on App part which was written in Java. Two of them focused more on AV-Engine part which was written in C. One of us has more experience in programming and other has more experience in Android malware.

We should mention that the backend systems which collects samples, cluster and classify them and generate automatic signatures makes up the greater but rather invisible part of the project.

Do you have any recommendations or advice for others wanting to create a mobile app?

Simplicity is the most important thing and it's also the hardest to achieve. Simplicity and beauty is closely related. Many problems can be solved in a simple manner but to find this simple solution is very difficult. Sometimes they spend days to write 15 lines of code to solve a complex problem in a simple and elegant way. Simplicity is our only defense in big projects. If it's not simple and short, there can be all kinds of dirty corners, heisenbugs etc. Sometimes you must write complicated codes or must handle many special cases. In this case, you need to isolate complexity. If the code is very short, it tolerates complexity to some extent, but most of the time, you should avoid it. Sometimes our programmers start writing some feature and complexity takes over quite fast, faster than you could guess. In this case they mostly, stop coding and start thinking, and eventually start over with a simpler design.

By experience, they say that most of the time, simple and elegant algorithms are recursive ones. But this is only an observation, nothing more.

How did you decide which platforms to release your app on and do you plan on releasing your app to other platforms?

99% of all mobile malware targets Android. By the nature of IOS, it's much harder to exploit and there is not enough threat for creating a security solution for it. Other platforms are simply not very popular.

How is your app different than the rest of the market? Which unique need does it fill?

Fast, easy to use, automated and does not need any action to keep the users safe. Also, anti-keylogger feature is unique.

What features do you hope to roll out to your app in the future?

Antilogger (Keylogger, Camera, e-mail, browser, call, gallery), cloud scan, bank protection.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of the creation of this app?

Reaction of grateful users.

What is the coolest or most innovative feature of your app?

Simplicity and anti-keylogger protection feature.

What surprised you most in your journey to create this app?

Good plan in development process doesn't leave any space for surprises.

Which other mobile apps or technology have inspired you?

Other mobile AVs, independent security products (simple tools).

You can view Zemana Mobile Antivirus here