We’re not sure how many of you guys knew this, but Google has a subsidiary company in the form of VirusTotal. It is a website that lets users upload files so that it will be able to scan for all kinds of malware, so the next time you have a file you might be suspicious of, upload it to VirusTotal and will scan it for you for free.That being said, it seems that Google has made some changes to VirusTotal because the service will now be able to scan firmware for any possible malware infections. As VirusTotal points out, ever since the Snowden reports revealed that government bodies like the NSA were trying to infect the BIOS of computers in order to spy on users, it is understandable that many users out there are a little paranoid.
According to VirusTotal security engineer Francisco Santos, “Since the BIOS boots a computer and helps load the operating system, by infecting it attackers can deploy malware that survives reboots, system wiping and reinstallations, and since antiviruses are not scanning this layer, the compromise can fly under the radar. As of today VirusTotal is characterizing in detail firmware images, legit or malicious.”
So if you are concerned about your BIOS being potentially infected, VirusTotal will be able to check it out for you. If you’d like to learn more, hit up the blog, or you can head on over to their website and start uploading.