US Government to Crowdsource Malware
November 19, 2018
When we talk about all the wonderful opportunities for crowdsourcing, we often think about everything from network building to cake recipes. Very rarely do we think about governments crowdsourcing and even less frequently do we think about the benefits of sharing malware. But that’s exactly what’s happening and we couldn’t speak more highly of this choice. We learned more in a recent ZDNet story, “US Cyber Command Starts Uploading Foreign APT Malware to VirusTotal.”
According to the story:
“The Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF), a subordinate unit of US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), set in motion a new initiative through which the DOD would share malware samples it discovered on its networks with the broader cybersecurity community.”
What is VirusTotal? It’s a unique organization that works a little like the Center for Disease Control, in that they keep a running bank of all malware and viruses on the internet. What this does, is allows experts to investigate these nasty elements and keep us safe. The CNMF is a great resource to team with VirusTotal and we hope good things stem from this. Oddly, one thing we did discover is that VirusTotal is owned by Google, which has the potential to make for strange bedfellows someday.
Patrick Roland, November 19, 2018
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