{"id":135903,"date":"2023-12-19T02:23:01","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T07:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/?p=135903"},"modified":"2023-12-19T02:23:01","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T07:23:01","slug":"be-careful-with-virustotal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/be-careful-with-virustotal\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Careful With VirusTotal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"daves-2064268493\" class=\"daves-single-post-before-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.virustotal.com\/gui\/home\/upload\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">VirusTotal<\/a> is an online scanning tool many Daves Computer Tips readers use to scan for malicious content. However, DCT readers need to be careful when using VirusTotal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">VirusTotal<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Spanish security company Hispasec Sistemas created and launched the VirusTotal website in 2004. In September 2012, Google acquired the company. In January 2018, the ownership of the company changed to Chronicle, a subsidiary of Google.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The online VirusTotal website aggregates over 70 antivirus engines as well as URL\/domain blocklisting services to scan uploaded items for malicious content. Users can upload files up to 650 MB to the website or send files up to 32 MB via email. These files are checked against aggregated data or scanned by the engines. This allows users to test for malicious content that their own antivirus software may have missed. In addition, users can see if a positive flag from their personal security software might be a false positive.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>VirusTotal is an excellent resource for getting a clear indication of whether an executable is malicious. If you are installing a program for the first time, if you are unsure of the source of the software, or if you simply do not know much about the software, it is a good idea to scan the file with VirusTotal before installing it.<\/p><div id=\"daves-1517904701\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Many readers of Daves Computer Tips use VirusTotal. Whenever I am unsure about the source of some software, I scan the executable with VirusTotal to ensure it is safe. Other DCT writers do this as well (see Jim Hillier\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/what-are-false-positives-why-do-they-occur\/\">What Are False Positives &amp; Why Do They Occur<\/a> and Terry Hollet&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-cutsplit-movies-with-mp4-splitter\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-cutsplit-movies-with-mp4-splitter\/\">How To Cut\/Split Movies With MP4 Splitter<\/a>). As Jason Shuffield wrote, <a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-safely-check-a-web-address\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/how-to-safely-check-a-web-address\/\">VirusTotal can also be used to check websites for malicious content<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Users Need To Be Careful Using VirusTotal<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Because VirusTotal acts like a scanner, most users think it acts like the antivirus scanner on their PC. They ask the scanner to scan a file for malicious content, and the scanner returns a clean or flagged response, and that is it. However, this is not how VirusTotal works. VirusTotal is a tool used by the security community to raise the global security level. When you upload a file to VirusTotal, you are submitting it to the VirusTotal community. These malware samples are valuable to security researchers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>However, Google does not clearly disclose that <strong>anyone who is a paid user of VirusTotal can see everything that is submitted to the community<\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>When uploading a file to VirusTotal, a person or company may inadvertently include sensitive information. For an individual, this may include data such as banking information, credit card information, passwords, etc. For a business, this may include data such as intellectual property, payroll data, customer data, etc. Many organizations have compliance regulations or security protocols that prohibit the use of VirusTotal.<\/p><div id=\"daves-3502143949\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-2\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In short, never submit anything that may contain personal or corporate information. Google hints about this on the entry page!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning.jpg\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"581\" class=\"wp-image-135905\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning-640x581.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning-640x581.jpg 640w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning-350x318.jpg 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning-150x136.jpg 150w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning-768x697.jpg 768w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning-1320x1198.jpg 1320w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/VirusTotal_Warning.jpg 1327w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>I wrote this article after seeing an add-on for Thunderbird that automates the uploading of email attachments to VirusTotal. I thought, \u201c<strong>This is such a bad idea!<\/strong>\u201d (Obviously, I will not link to this add-on.)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On.jpg\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"260\" class=\"wp-image-135906\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-640x260.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-640x260.jpg 640w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-350x142.jpg 350w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-150x61.jpg 150w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-768x312.jpg 768w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-1536x625.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On-1320x537.jpg 1320w, https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Thunderbird_Add_On.jpg 1615w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bottom Line<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>VirusTotal is an excellent tool for checking files you suspect may contain malicious content. However, since all submissions are shared with the VirusTotal community, users must be careful about what they submit for analysis. In addition, automating the upload of email attachments for scanning is not wise and, in a business environment, may even be against your employer&#8217;s policies.<\/p>\r\n<p>&#8212;<\/p><div id=\"daves-1852092391\" class=\"daves-single-post-in-content-3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 25px;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"2700504761\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\r\n<div id=\"daves-1063226914\" class=\"daves-after-content\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7205184075006101\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-7205184075006101\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"3225321574\" \ndata-ad-format=\"autorelaxed\" data-full-width-responsive=\"false\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview VirusTotal is an online scanning tool many Daves Computer Tips readers use to scan for malicious content. However, DCT readers need to be careful when using VirusTotal. VirusTotal The Spanish security company Hispasec Sistemas created and launched the VirusTotal website in 2004. In September [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4183,"featured_media":135908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[264,28,66,128,57,13,408,1738],"tags":[11837],"class_list":["post-135903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-browser","category-internet","category-phishing-internet","category-privacy-2","category-scams","category-security","category-sites-internet","category-spam-internet","tag-virustotal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davescomputertips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}