VirusTotal

{{short description|Cybersecurity website owned by Chronicle}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}

{{Infobox website

| name = VirusTotal

| logo = VirusTotal logo.svg

| screenshot = VirusTotal Screenshot.jpg

| url = {{URL|https://www.virustotal.com}}

| commercial = No

| type = Internet security, file and URL analyzer

| registration = Optional

| language = Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (US), English (GB), Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

| author = Hispasec Sistemas

| launch_date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2004|06}}

| revenue =

| current_status = Active

| location = Dublin

| country = Ireland

| key_people = Bernardo Quintero, Emiliano Martínez, Víctor Manuel Álvarez, Karl Hiramoto, Julio Canto, Alejandro Bermúdez, Juan A. Infantes

| area_served = Worldwide

| parent = Google LLC (2012–2018)
Chronicle (2018–present)

| GM = Bernardo Quintero

}}

VirusTotal is a website created by the Spanish security company Hispasec Sistemas. Launched in June 2004, it was acquired by Google in September 2012.{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/07/google-acquires-online-virus-malware-and-url-scanner-virustotal/|title=Google Acquires Online Virus, Malware and URL Scanner VirusTotal|last=Lardinois|first=Frederic|date=September 7, 2012|publisher=TechCrunch|access-date=12 April 2013}}{{Cite web |date=2012-09-07 |title=Google buys cybersecurity startup VirusTotal |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/business/google-buys-cybersecurity-startup-virustotal-idUSL2E8K7HIG/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250328185740/https://www.reuters.com/article/business/google-buys-cybersecurity-startup-virustotal-idUSL2E8K7HIG/ |archive-date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-03-28}}{{cite web|author=VirusTotal Team |url=http://blog.virustotal.com/2012/09/an-update-from-virustotal.html |title=An update from VirusTotal |publisher=Blog.virustotal.com |date=7 September 2012 |access-date=3 June 2016}} The company's ownership switched in January 2018 to Chronicle, a subsidiary of Google.{{Cite web |last=Cimpanu |first=Catalin |date=2025-03-28 |title=Alphabet launches VirusTotal Enterprise |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-launches-virustotal-enterprise/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250328191446/https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-launches-virustotal-enterprise/ |archive-date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=ZDNET |language=en}}

VirusTotal's modus operandi is multiscanning. It aggregates many antivirus products and online scan engines{{cite web|url=https://www.virustotal.com/en/about/credits/ |title=Credits & Acknowledgements : About VirusTotal |publisher=VirusTotal |access-date=6 July 2014 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/ccb66b558344adf146851e15dc0c54749c2fb5a74156187e84f0c921097e4350/analysis/1396457779/ |title=Example Report |publisher=Virustotal.com |date=2 April 2014 |access-date=3 June 2016}} called Contributors.{{Cite web |date=2023-11-21 |title=Criminal IP Becomes VirusTotal IP and URL Scan Contributor |url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/criminal-ip-becomes-virustotal-ip-and-url-scan-contributor-1032838904 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250328194236/https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/criminal-ip-becomes-virustotal-ip-and-url-scan-contributor-1032838904 |archive-date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Business Insider |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://support.virustotal.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002146809-Contributors|title=Contributors|website=VirusTotal}} In November, 2018, the Cyber National Mission Force, a unit subordinate to the U.S. Cyber Command became a Contributor.{{cite web |url=https://www.cybercom.mil/Media/News/Article/1681533/new-cnmf-initiative-shares-malware-samples-with-cybersecurity-industry/ |title=New CNMF initiative shares malware samples with cybersecurity industry > U.S. Cyber Command > News |website=www.cybercom.mil |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930004308/https://www.cybercom.mil/Media/News/Article/1681533/new-cnmf-initiative-shares-malware-samples-with-cybersecurity-industry/ |archive-date=30 September 2020 |url-status=dead}} The aggregated data from these Contributors allows a user to check for viruses that the user's own antivirus software may have missed, or to verify against any false positives.{{cite web |url=http://www.virustotal.com/sobre.html |title=About VirusTotal |publisher=Virustotal.com |access-date=3 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812025330/http://www.virustotal.com/sobre.html |archive-date=12 August 2010 |url-status=dead }} Files up to 650 MB can be uploaded to the website, or sent via email (max. 32MB). Anti-virus software vendors can receive copies of files that were flagged by other scans but passed by their own engine, to help improve their software and, by extension, VirusTotal's own capability. Users can also scan suspect URLs and search through the VirusTotal dataset. VirusTotal uses the Cuckoo sandbox for dynamic analysis of malware.{{cite web|url=https://support.virustotal.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002146809-Contributors/ |title=Credits of VirusTotal |publisher=Virustotal.com |access-date=November 27, 2021}}

VirusTotal was selected by PC World as one of the best 100 products of 2007.{{cite web|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/131935/article.html?page=10|title=The 100 Best Products of 2007|last1=Dahl|first1=Eric|date=May 21, 2007|website=PCWorld|publisher=IDG Consumer & SMB|access-date=3 June 2016}}

On July 2023, VirusTotal issued an apology after one of its staff unintentionally exposed the private information belonging to 5,600 VirusTotal's customers, including the email addresses of US Cyber Command, FBI, and NSA employees.{{Cite web |last=Jessica |first=Lyons |date=2023-07-21 |title=VirusTotal: We're sorry someone fat-fingered and exposed 5,600 users |url=https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/21/virustotal_data_exposure_apology/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250328192429/https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/21/virustotal_data_exposure_apology/ |archive-date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=The Register}}{{Cite web |last=Martinez |first=Emiliano |date=2023-07-21 |title=Apology and Update on Recent Accidental Data Exposure |url=https://blog.virustotal.com/2023/07/apology-and-update-on-recent-accidental.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250328192930/https://blog.virustotal.com/2023/07/apology-and-update-on-recent-accidental.html |archive-date=2025-03-28 |access-date=2025-03-28}}