Google acquires VirusTotal

While there are several free online malware scanners available, the most popular among them have been Jotti and VirusTotal. There is now news that Google has acquired VirusTotal.

While announcing its acquisition by Google, on its blog, the VirusTotal Team said:

Our goal is simple: to help keep you safe on the web. And we’ve worked hard to ensure that the services we offer continually improve. But as a small, resource-constrained company, that can sometimes be challenging. So we’re delighted that Google, a long-time partner, has acquired VirusTotal. This is great news for you, and bad news for malware generators, because, The quality and power of our malware research tools will keep improving, most likely faster; and Google’s infrastructure will ensure that our tools are always ready, right when you need them.

VirusTotal will however continue to operate independently, maintaining its partnerships with other antivirus companies and security experts.

One thing is sure, Google will want to integrate the service with its own other products and services, but does it have any thing more in mind? That is yet to be seen and we will have to wait for an official announcement from Google.