checkVT

checkVT sends the selected URL through a parsing process, then to VirusTotal to check if it has been analyzed for malware.

checkVT (check VirusTotal) is an open source project developed by Emyll Almonte for an independent research class supervised by Dr. Vaibhav Anu (Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science), Montclair State University.

checkVT is a simple web browser extension that takes a selected URL via context-menu and submits it directly to be checked against all engines on VirusTotal with an added feature. VirusTotal is a free service that uses over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blacklisting services to analyze suspicious files and URLs to detect types of malware. The feature checkVT incorporates is a process that tries to find the effective URL (redirect) if it exists on the URL that was submitted, and sends that URL to VirusTotal instead of the URL that was selected. This extra step helps users see the VirusTotal results for the URL/domain that they would have ended up at, as opposed to the original link they clicked on. URL redirection is a major phishing method that attackers use to masquerade as legitimate websites.

For more info, release notes, and to see the open source code, please visit the GitHub repo: https://github.com/ealmonte32/checkVT