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VirusTotal wants YOU (but not you) to join its epic AV whitelist

No more anti-virus collateral D-Days, mkay?

Google-owned VirusTotal wants large software houses to send in their software catalogues so it can build what could well end up being one of the world's biggest anti-virus whitelists.

The whitelist would clarify to users that software being checked for cleanliness came from a recognised developer, and warn vendors and anti-virus types when good software is flagged as bad.

This approach, said software engineer Emiliano Martinez, would help avert what seem to be regular disasters when anti-virus platforms put up the Stop sign for critical components of third party software incorrectly flagged as a net nasty.

"Nowadays antivirus vendors are increasingly required to become more proactive, this includes developing generic signatures and heuristic flags, which very often leads to mistaken detections in an effort to have a more secure user-base," said VirusTotal software engineer Emiliano Martinez.

"Our first shot at this is a project that we call trusted source. The goal of this first stage is to have huge software developers share the files in their software catalogue."

Microsoft was the first to answer the call, submitting 6000 of its wares through metadata within its catalogues.

Queries about Redmondware made on the lauded anti-virus detection site now return an all-clear with a note that the software is part of Microsoft's company catalogue.

Smaller software companies would likely face a long wait to play, and adware and potentially unwanted program developers like those in popular download wrappers were explicitly told they need not apply. ®

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