Google releases VirusTotal Uploader for OS X, hopes more malware submissions will beef up Mac security

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).

For those who don’t know, VirusTotal Uploader for Windows is a popular tool for submitting suspicious files to the online scanning service VirusTotal. The process is as simple as right-clicking any file and selecting the relevant option from the context menu.

The OS X version offers the following features:

• Drag and drop a file to the VirusTotal Uploader in order to scan it with over 50 antivirus solutions.
• Drag and drop a folder to the VirusTotal Uploader and schedule the analysis of its content.
• Drag and drop a Mac application to the VirusTotal Uploader.
• Allow you to “Open With” in finder the VirusTotal Uploader to scan a file.

Google acquired VirusTotal back in September 2012, promising VirusTotal will continue to operate independently. The company doesn’t hide its goal behind today’s release: “Hopefully this will lead to VirusTotal receiving more Mac applications, diving deeper into an increasingly targeted OS by attackers and allowing antivirus companies and researchers making use of VirusTotal’s backend to build stronger defenses against these threats.”

It’s no secret that OS X is a popular option amongst Google employees, and as the platform in general has become more popular, so has malware for it. While VirusTotal Uploader for OS X will be mainly useful for individuals and firms that are part of the security industry, all Mac users will likely reap the benefits in the form of better security software.

See also – Three years in, Google has paid researchers over $2 million in security rewards and fixed more than 2,000 bugs and Google’s CIO explains the challenge of keeping data secure: ‘We spend a lot of time worrying about it’

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