Google: Virustotal Not Intended To Compare Anti-Virus

VirusTotal is a popular service from Google that charge suspicious files can be scanned by dozens of virus, but to keep health service and to prevent abuse have now announced new rules and users are reminded of their responsibilities.

According to Google VirusTotal is a nice collaboration between anti-virus companies and users. Users upload suspicious files, which are then shared with the anti-virus companies. "It's an ecosystem where everyone contributes, everyone benefits, and we work together to improve safety on the Internet," said Bernardo Quintero.

Rules

To ensure that the ecosystem is in good working there new rules announced. So all anti-virus companies are obliged to integrate their detection scanner in the public interface of VirusTotal. New scanners wishing to apply must first be able to present a certification or independent reviews of security testers, with the best practices of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) followed by VirusTotal.

Additionally VirusTotal users must follow the requirements and best practices, let Google know. "It's frustrating to see abuse and is detrimental to our community," said Quintero. He points out that VirusTotal is not substitute for a virus. In addition, the service must also not be used to compare virus scanners with each other. "Virus scanners are complex programs on additional detection properties which may not operate within the scanning area of ​​VirusTotal. Therefore, the scanning results from VirusTotal are not designed to compare the effectiveness of anti-virus products," Quintero says.