Google Releases VirusTotal Uploader For OS X

An anonymous reader writes "Google today announced the release of VirusTotal Uploader for OS X, allowing Mac users to upload suspicious files for scanning. You can download it now directly for OS X 10.8 and 10.9 from VirusTotal. For those who don't know, VirusTotal Uploader for Windows is a popular tool for submitting suspicious files to the online scanning service. The process is as simple as right-clicking any file and selecting the relevant option from the context menu."

Yet another front on Mac Security

[jaeztheangel]

This will throw up so many false positives for Mac users...

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[TubeSteak]

I've seen a new outbreak where my AV didn't catch it, but 1/4th of the scanners at VirusTotal did.

I've also seen 1/4th of the scanners at VirusTotal claim known good binaries = generic malware because of the packer used to build the exe.

Re:

[Anubis IV]

Neat idea, and thanks for explaining it to those of us who didn't know what it did, but it doesn't seem particularly useful in this case. And I'm not just saying that because Macs have been by-and-large (though obviously not completely) free of malware in everyday use. I say that because normal users, who are the sort that are likely to be afflicted with an infection, will never hear about it, while the sorts of users who do hear about it (i.e. folks like us) already engage in best practices and will essent

what a name!

[Jeremy Erwin]

Virus Total Uploader sounds like a malware development kit. The Headline had me thinking of Google taking the IOS-Android war to new levels of barbarity.

Re:

[munch117]

It is a malware development kit, you know. Or rather, part of one. The bad guys use tools like this to create virus-scanner-proof malware.

1. Create 1000 random variations of your malware.
2. Select a variation that's given a clean sheet by Virus Total. If there isn't any, just create more variations.
3. ?? (*)
4. Profit.

(*) Release the malware into the wild.

Re:

[Hypotensive]

Indeed. "This is a virus that totally uploads all your stuff to Google."

Re:

[BitZtream]

...

What mac user runs as root? OSX never has by default allowed root to login, and Classic Mac OS didn't really have a concept of users. It most certainly does require you to provide your password to do administrative tasks just like SUDO. To access a root shell you must tweak some preferences so you can login as root directly or sudo bash to get a root shell.

OSX doesn't come with MySQL, so if you installed it with no password, thats because you're a moron like your other posts imply. My machine shows p

Re:

[angel'o'sphere]

Contenance my friend, contenance! Look at his name ;)

Re:

[exomondo]

You're not even trolling

Your powers of deduction are mindblowing! ... your sarcasm detector is clearly overloaded though, perhaps for people like you he should include a sarcasm disclaimer at the bottom next time. I know the mac fanboys are a rabid bunch but come on, are you really suggesting that isn't sarcastic? Really?

Easy to use, just upload your files!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just right click and send all your personal files to Google. They'll keep them safe and scan them for viruses.

Big Brother doesn't have to work hard when we so willingly hand over anything and everything.

Re:

[ledow]

Nobody's making you do it.

And with Virustotal, you're free to calculate the hash yourself and go look up the URL it goes to (in fact, VirusTotal clients do this - generate a hash, lookup the hash, and only upload if it doesn't already exist).

And why would you be uploading personal files to check for viruses? Surely your personal files are the ones you KNOW are clean? It's the random crap you download and are sent that you have to scan.

Re:Easy to use, just upload your files!

[ledow]

Here's a hint then: Don't upload confidential files.

Why does your stupidity of an unrealistic use case (uploading a file you don't want to share to an untrusted third party) render the service untenable?

Fact is, I use VirusTotal a lot of deal with confidential information all the time. I use it to reassure myself that the things I'm handling aren't going to affect the confidential data or the programs that handle it.

Personally, I think every PDF->Word or Word->PDF service is infinitely more dangerous as a source of uploaded confidential information that could be retained.

And, as pointed out, you DO NOT have to use the service, DO NOT have to upload the file at all, and DO NOT have to use this client...

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[Crash Culligan]

And why would you be uploading personal files to check for viruses? Surely your personal files are the ones you KNOW are clean? It's the random crap you download and are sent that you have to scan.

Because doing so helps strengthen all anti-virus software which VirusTotal uses. The mistake is thinking of VirusTotal as just a big ol' multi-scanner, when under the hood it's a clearinghouse of virus and malware information for the participating vendors of detection and remedy software.

If they get a file that

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[Plumpaquatsch]

Nobody's making you do it.

And with Virustotal, you're free to calculate the hash yourself and go look up the URL it goes to (in fact, VirusTotal clients do this - generate a hash, lookup the hash, and only upload if it doesn't already exist).

And why would you be uploading personal files to check for viruses? Surely your personal files are the ones you KNOW are clean? It's the random crap you download and are sent that you have to scan.

So what you are saying is that the only time you ever have to actually upload something - it's a file unique to you. Which is totally not a personal thing.

Re:

[smash]

Nobody's making ME do it, but if i send any of the content i generate to others, there's nothing stopping them uploading my content, is there?

Use the hash search

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no need to upload files to Virustotal most of the time. Just calculate the MD5 or SHA-1 hash (or whatever else is supported) for the file, and search [virustotal.com] for it on Virustotal. More often than not someone else has already uploaded the exact same file very recently.

Then again, I guess for some users uploading might actually be easier.

Re:

[exomondo]

What has this company got to do with Google? This smells like a fake set of blogs misusing Google's name, hoping to get this into the echo chamber.

From TFA:
Google acquired VirusTotal back in September 2012, promising VirusTotal will continue to operate independently.
http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/05/26/google-releases-virustotal-uploader-os-x-hopes-malware-submissions-will-beef-mac-security/ [thenextweb.com]

Here's the code

[GrahamCox]

In Objective-C of course ;-)

- (BOOL) isKnownMacVirus:(NSURL*) url
{
return NO;
}

I can see where this is going...

[jones_supa]

This is the first step and the convenient slippery slope to a world where you will automatically send all your files needing a virus check to the server. They will reason this by saying that they can offer "better and more up-to-date service" when the system is running remotely instead of a local virus scanning program. And you will reason this by saying that "everyone else does this too" and "I have nothing to hide".

Re:

[smash]

Already happens... plenty of companies run Microsoft Online Protection for exchange (or whatever they call it this week) which scans all inbound and outbound mail for their domain. Oh, what you never consented to microsoft getting a copy of your files? Too bad...

No digital signature?!?!?

[Smerta]

Wow. Just went over to download the Windows version of the Uploader tool - the installer isn't digitally signed. WTF?!?!?

I'm still shocked that so much software from legitimate companies isn't digitally signed. I do a lot of firmware development, and very few companies' installers are digitally signed (IAR, I'm looking at you). Sheesh. Even a tiny company like Saleae and the main developer of TortoiseSVN ,Stefan Küng, have digital certificates for signing code, why can't a bigger company be bother

VirusTotal Uploader for OS X

[GabrielleeMaria]

Google today announced the release of VirusTotal Uploader for OS X, allowing Mac users to upload suspicious files for scanning. You can download it now directly for OS X 10.8 and 10.9 from VirusTotal (8.52MB).