Cool Tool: Scan suspicious attachments & websites

You know that I'm a big proponent of never opening unexpected email attachments. I've recommended to my clients that they never do it. Not even if it's from their dad, or their daughter, etc. But, they keep on opening those files.

Recognizing that, I offer you a new and useful tool for peeking inside those file attachments before opening them. It's called VirusTotal and it's definitely worth a visit if you have an unexpected attachment that you're just dying to open.

Just visit VirusTotal and upload the questionable file. It will then be scanned by, I kid you not, 55 different antivirus systems including AVG, Avast, Bit Defender, ClamAV, Kaspersky, Malware Bytes, McAfee, Sophos, Symantec… need I go on? Look to the right and you can a see sample output from a nasty file I downloaded just so I could show you the results.

This site will also scan entire websites that you may plan to visit. So, if you are planning to venture to the darker part of the web to indulge your predilection for film, music, or whatever… you can run that website past VirusTotal and get an idea of what you may be getting into.