- 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:
- File upload: /files
- URL analysis: /URLs
- 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).
