VirusTotal is a popular online antivirus that is very useful for detecting threats in a URL or file. It has an updated and quite complete database, which makes it a good option. Now it’s going to make it easy to stay protected in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It has just launched VT4Browsers, an extension that we can install in the browser and that alerts us in case there is a security problem.
VT4Browser, the extension of VirusTotal
An extension acts as a plug-in in the browser that allows certain additional features and enhancements. For example, order website tabs, organize bookmarks or, as in this case, help improve security. VT4Browser is installed for free in both Chrome and Firefox and what it does is automatically send the URLs of the downloads, for example, to VirusTotal and thus analyze whether it is a problem or not.
When the analysis is done, we can simply click on the extension icon and see the results. In this way we will know if there is any danger when downloading a file or accessing a web page. This will help us to have a plus of security when surfing the net and avoiding threats.
However, although this process is automatic, you will be able to configure the . So you can customize it so that it does not act on certain types of files, for example. This is useful to avoid false positives or to act on websites that you know are guaranteed and there are no problems.
The functions of the public part of the extension are the following:
- Scan downloads with VirusTotal – Determines which files are sent to VirusTotal for scanning.
- Do not scan documents: prevent it from scanning files such as PDFs, for example.
- Show Sent to VirusTotal notice
- Pause downloads when submitting them to VirusTotal and won’t continue until you know they’re safe
- Send Anonymous Passive DNS Data to VirusTotal
These functions can be enabled or not. For example, you can remove the option to send passive DNS data, which is used by VirusTotal to collect the domain name and IP address for its database and improve security.
Good complement to antivirus
You can now download the VT4Browser extension for both Chrome and Firefox . We can say that it is a very interesting complement to the antivirus that you have installed on the system. It is essential to always have this type of program that prevents the entry of viruses and threats.
Our advice is to only download the extension from the official site . That is, you must go to the official store for both Chrome and Firefox and add the plugin there. Otherwise you could be installing software that has been maliciously modified and could be a security problem.
In short, VirusTotal’s VT4Browser extension is one more alternative to protect the security of our computers. It is an ideal complement for the browser and it can come in very handy when it comes to downloading and not getting viruses and threats that could be a serious problem. You should keep in mind that there are many methods to hack yourself online and you have to have secure applications.
