How could VirusTotal be useful to security researchers?

• Sign up on VirusTotal and retrieve your API key from your profile settings.
• Decide on the specific functionality: file scanning, URL scanning, or domain/IP reputation checks.
• Use a suitable library for making HTTP requests (e.g., requests for Python or something similar in your language).
• Identify and use the appropriate VirusTotal API endpoint for your use case. Examples include:

1. File upload: /files
2. URL analysis: /URLs
3. Domain/IP reputation: /domains or /ip_addresses

• Structure your request with the API key in the headers and the required data (e.g., file, URL, or domain) in the body.
• Parse the response to extract useful information like scan IDs or analysis reports.
• Implement error handling for invalid API keys, rate limits, or server errors.
• Refer to the VirusTotal API Documentation for detailed endpoints, request formats, and limit instructions.
• Test integration thoroughly to ensure compatibility with your application’s requirements.
• Monitor API usage and optimize requests to avoid exceeding rate limits (especially for free plans).

Yes, some advanced malware can evade detection by VirusTotal. This may happen due to advanced obfuscation methods or because some antivirus providers might lack signatures for that particular malware variant. Consequently, although VirusTotal is an effective resource, it should not be exclusively depended on for thorough malware identification.

VirusTotal analyzes APK files and delivers detection outcomes from multiple antivirus providers. Yet, detection rates may differ between vendors, and certain malware might avoid being detected. Consequently, although VirusTotal is a useful resource, it ought to be utilized alongside additional security precautions.

Yes, VirusTotal is capable of scanning compressed formats like ZIP, RAR, and 7z files. It extracts these files and examines the included files for possible threats.

It can be considered a reliable way to find viruses on .exe files but might not be 100% reliable as it collects data from multiple sources. It may create false decisions due to a low detection rate. Thus, it is necessary to consider some security measures while interpreting the result.