How to Report Malware or False Positives to Multiple Antivirus Vendors

Submitting malware samples to all vendors helps protect nearly all Internet users.

This article contains a list of every respectable Windows anti-malware vendor, with a signature based product, that I am aware of. Thus this list, in addition to showing you how to easily submit malware or false positives to all of them, also serves as a reference for anti-malware products which are confirmed to be legitimate.

That said, I make no statement as to whether any particular anti-malware vendor is good at detecting malware. By submitting malware to all of them, you can help protect nearly all internet users, regardless of which product they choose to use for protection.

In addition, please read the section about How You Can Help if you are knowledgeable about anti-malware vendors, or if you find something missing or incorrect in this list.

1. How To Easily Prepare To Submit The Samples

A. Make Sure an Email Client Is Set Up Properly

To follow the advice in this article, you will need to have an email client, such as Thunderbird or Outlook, set up and configured. If you have not already set this up, please do so now. For instructions on how to set up Outlook, please see this page; and for instructions on how to set up Thunderbird, please see this page.

You will also have to be using an email service which has been confirmed to work for this process. The only one that I am currently aware of is AOL.

By the way, I have confirmed that Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, GMX, and FastMail do not work.

In terms of the ones that do work, please note that sometimes they will force you to answer a puzzle to prove that you are human, or even to change your password. This is because it seems like what you’re doing constitutes unusual account activity. This is not really a problem. I’m just letting you know ahead of time so you’re not surprised.

B. Put Samples In Compressed Files

If you’re planning on submitting a suspicious file, or multiple files, for analysis, the easiest way to do this is to install a program called 7-Zip. Once it’s installed, right click on the sample you would like to submit and select “7-Zip”. If you are submitting multiple samples, highlight all and right click on them, then choose “7-Zip”. Submitting multiple samples at once can save you a lot of time if you have a lot of samples to submit. However, I would suggest that you do not submit more than 5 at a time as some vendors will begin to reject the samples.

After selecting “7-Zip”, choose “Add to archive…” from the context menu. It will open up a window. In the option for “Archive format”, make sure it is set to zip. Enter “infected” (without the quotes) as the password, then select OK.

After this is done, in order to submit the samples to the remaining vendors, follow exactly the same steps but change the “Archive format” to 7z. Put in the same password and select OK. Now you should have the samples in a password protected zip file, and a password protected 7z file.

2. Easily Submit Malware To All Vendors

One of the main purposes of this article is to make it as easy as possible for anyone who comes across malware to submit it to all security vendors in as few steps as possible. Also, don’t worry about duplicate submissions. This has been taken care of for this list.

You can submit the password protected zip file by clicking on this link. (Attach the zip file after the email client opens and then click Send). Webmail users should right click on it and choose to save the email addresses. Then paste them in the contact line of your email.

You can submit the password protected 7z file by clicking on this link. (Attach the 7z file after email client opens and then click Send). Webmail users should right click on it and choose to save the email addresses. Then paste them in the contact line of your email.

If the email is not delivered correctly, please see my comments in Section (1)(A) to make sure that you are not using one of the email services which do not work with this list.

At this point, you’ve submitted the samples to all vendors below marked with a V . This does include most of them. Also, if a message failed to be delivered to one or more of the vendors, which does happen sometimes, you can manually submit it to them if you like. Also, if you wish, you can submit the samples to the rest of the vendors who have submission information. Each of these vendors is marked with a A . However, this will be much more time consuming as you will have to manually submit the samples to each vendor individually. Note that for online forms, unless instructed otherwise, you should upload the file directly and not in a compressed file.

3. Criteria Used for the List

My only criteria for adding vendors to this list are that they have to have their own website, which must provide contact information. Also, the vendors must have a signature based anti-malware product, not have a bad reputation, and their main site cannot be rated orange or red by Web Of Trust – which is a criterion imposed by Gizmo’s Best.

If I say that I have confirmed something in the list, it means that I have either been provided with that information directly from the vendor or from some other official source with connections to the vendor. The only way it can be incorrect is that the vendor now provides a particular submission option which they previously did not.

4. List of All Vendors

Unless otherwise noted, when submitting a sample via an online form you should upload the file directly and not in a compressed file. Also, unless otherwise noted, submissions by email should be put in a password protected zip file. Just click on the link for the vendor you wish to submit it to and it will automatically fill the necessary details into your default email client. Then all you need to do is to attach the zip file and click Send. In any cases where the vendors require different steps, they are clearly noted.

V This symbol denotes the vendors who have been included in the mailing lists in Section 2 above.

A This symbol denotes the vendors who have alternate options for submitting samples, as they do not have an email address for submission.

O This symbol denotes the vendors who use the signatures of other vendors. Thus you don’t need to submit samples to them directly.

* This symbol means that there is incomplete information. If you have any information, your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

If a vendor is unmarked, this indicates that I currently have no information about how to submit malware to them.

The vendors are arranged alphabetically in this list. To jump to the vendor you’re interested in, please click on the initial letter of the vendor’s name below.

A B C D E F G H I K L M N P Q R S T U V W X Z

Please note that some products are known by multiple names. Thus, if you are having trouble finding a particular vendor, or product, it will likely be very helpful to search for them using Ctrl-F.

Vendor	Submit Malware	Submit False Positives
V AegisLab HomePage	Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V AhnLab HomePage	Registered users can report malware via the options on this page or anyone can Report Malware via Email	Registered users can report false positives via the options on this page or anyone can Report False Positive via Email
V * Antiy HomePage	The online malware submission form linked to on their site does not currently work. Report Malware via Email (attach password protected 7z file)	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V ArcaVir/arcabit HomePage (Polish)	Report Malware via Email (attach password protected 7z file)	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
O Ashampoo HomePage	Submit malware to Emsisoft and Bitdefender as Ashampoo uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Emsisoft and Bitdefender as Ashampoo uses the same signatures
O Auslogics HomePage	Submit malware to BitDefender as Auslogics uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to BitDefender as Auslogics uses the same signatures
V Avast HomePage Forum	Report Malware via Email	Report False Positive via Email
A * AVG HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission I have found no working email address for submitting malware	Online False Positive Submission
O AVZ HomePage (Russian)	Submit malware to Kaspersky as AVZ uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Kaspersky as AVZ uses the same signatures
V Avira AntiVir HomePage	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V BitDefender HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission (Select “False Negative” and check the box for file) or anyone can Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission (Select “False Positive” and check the box for file) or anyone can Report False Positive via Email
V Bkav HomePage	Online malware submission is available to registered users through this page (translate page from Vietnamese) or anyone can Report Malware via Email	Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
V * BluePoint Security HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
O BullGuard HomePage	Submit malware to BitDefender as BullGuard uses the same signatures	Submit malware to BitDefender as BullGuard uses the same signatures
A Celframe HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V CMC HomePage	Report Malware via Email (attach password protected 7z file)	Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
V Comodo HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
O Constant Guard/xfinity HomePage	Submit malware to Symantec as Constant Guard uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Symantec as Constant Guard uses the same signatures
Crystal Security HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
O Cyberoam HomePage	Submit malware to Avira as Cyberoam uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Avira as Cyberoam uses the same signatures
V * Defenx HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form I have found no working email address for submitting malware	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting malware
V Digital Defender HomePage	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email (attach password protected 7z file)	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
V Dr. Web HomePage Forum	Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
V Emco HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Emsisoft HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Report False Positive via Email
V eScan HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission (Select “Submit a Ticket” and then Samples) or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission (Select “Submit a Ticket” and then “False Positive”) or Report False Positive via Email
O Faronics HomePage	Submit malware to Vipre as Faronics uses the same signatures	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
V Fortinet/FortiGuard HomePage	Online Malware Submission (can only upload up to 1 MB) or Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V FortKnox SpyEmergency/Netgate HomePage	Report Malware via Email	Report False Positive via Email
V F-Prot/FRISK HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
V FSB Antivirus HomePage Forum Forum site down on 9/15/14	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V F-Secure HomePage	Report Malware via Email	Report False Positive via Email
A G Data HomePage	Online Malware Submission I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives	Online False Positive Submission I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V herdProtect HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email (attach password protected 7z file)	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
O Hitman Pro HomePage	Submit malware to BitDefender, Kaspersky, and Emsisoft as Hitman Pro uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to BitDefender, Kaspersky, and Emsisoft as Hitman Pro uses the same signatures
V Ikarus HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Immunet Protect HomePage	Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission (Select “Submit a false positive” from the drop-down menu) or Report False Positive via Email
* Iolo HomePage	I have found no online malware submission form I have found no working email address for submitting malware	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting false positives
V K7 HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form I have found no working email address for submitting malware as that stated in website does not work	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Kaspersky HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission (requires free account) or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission (requires free account) or Report False Positive via Email
V * KV Antivirus/Jiangmin HomePage (Chinese)	I have found no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Lavasoft Ad-Aware HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
O Lumension HomePage	Submit malware to Norman as Lumension uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Norman as Lumension uses the same signatures
A Malwarebytes HomePage Forum	You have to join their forum and post malware samples here I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	You have to join their forum and post false positives here I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V McAfee HomePage	Online malware submission is available to registered users through this page or anyone can Report Malware via Email	Online false positive submission is available to registered users through this page or send an email to anyone to this email address or if is marked as marked as “McAfee-GW-Edition” submit it to this email address
V Microsoft Security Essentials HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
V * MKS HomePage (Polish)	Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting false positives
O Moon Secure HomePage	Submit malware to Immunet Protect as Moon Secure uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Immunet Protect as Moon Secure uses the same signatures
O MSecure HomePage	Submit malware to Ikarus as MSecure uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Ikarus as MSecure uses the same signatures
V Nod32/ESET HomePage Forum	Report Malware via Email	Report false positives through the program itself or Report False Positive via Email
V NoraScan HomePage	Report Malware via Email	Report False Positive via Email
V nProtect HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Panda HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
V * Preventon HomePage	I have found no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email (attach password protected 7z file)	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email (attach password protected 7z file)
A * Protector Plus/Proland HomePage	The online malware submission provided on their site doesn’t work correctly. The email address provided on their site doesn’t work correctly.	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting false positives
V PSafe HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
A Quick Heal HomePage	Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
* Rising HomePage (Chinese)	There is no suitable online form for submitting malware as theirs is rated red by WOT I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	There is no suitable online form for submitting false positives as theirs is rated red by WOT I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
A * Roboscan/ALYac HomePage	Report malware through tool downloaded from this page I have found no working email address for submitting malware	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting false positives
V Rubus/Ozone Antivirus HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
O ShawSecure HomePage	Submit malware to McAfee as Shaw Secure uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to McAfee as Shaw Secure uses the same signatures
V * SmartCOP HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Sophos HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
V Spybot Search & Destroy HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission (Make sure to let them know it’s a false positive) or Report False Positive via Email
* SpyCop HomePage	I have found no online malware submission form I have found no working email address for submitting malware	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting false positives
V * SRN/Solo Antivirus HomePage	I have found no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
A SuperAntiSpyware HomePage Forum	Report malware through tool on this page I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	Report false positives through SuperAntiSpyware program interface I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V Symantec/Norton HomePage Forum	Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V thirtyseven4 HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V * Total Defense HomePage	I have found no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
A Trend Micro HomePage	Report Malware via Email (Note that the password must be virus)	Online False Positive Submission (Attach the password protected zip file and tell them the password in the comments section) I have confirmed that there is no official email address suitable for submitting false positives
V Trojan Remover/Simply Super Software HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
O TrustPort HomePage	Submit malware to AVG, BitDefender, Dr. Web, Vipre, and VirusBlokAda as TrustPort uses the same signatures	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
V Twister/Filseclab HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
O Untangle HomePage Forum	Submit malware to Immunet Protect as Untangle uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Immunet Protect as Untangle uses the same signatures
O Verizon Internet Security HomePage	Submit malware to McAfee as Verizon Internet Security uses the same signatures	Submit malware to McAfee as Verizon Internet Security uses the same signatures
V Vipre/Sunbelt/Threattrack HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission or Report Malware via Email	Online False Positive Submission or Report False Positive via Email
A Vir.IT HomePage	Online Malware Submission I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	Online False Positive Submission (Select “Analysis Required” and write “Possible False Positive” in the Description box) I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives
V VirusBlokAda/VBA32 HomePage	Online Malware Submission (Translate page from Russian) or Report Malware via Email	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
O VIRUSfighter HomePage	Submit malware to Sophos as VIRUSfighter uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Sophos as VIRUSfighter uses the same signatures
* VirusKeeper HomePage	I have found no online malware submission form I have found no working email address for submitting malware	I have found no online false positive submission form I have found no working email address for submitting false positives
A Webroot HomePage Forum	Online Malware Submission I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	False positive submission is available to through this page or Report False Positive via Email
V XVirus HomePage	You can post malware samples here or Report Malware via Email	You can post false positives here
O Zemana HomePage	Submit malware to Emsisoft, G Data, Ikarus, and Dr. Web as Zemana uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Emsisoft, G Data, Ikarus, or Dr. Web as Zemana uses the same signatures
V Zillya HomePage (Ukrainian)	I have found no online malware submission form Report Malware via Email	I have found no online false positive submission form Report False Positive via Email
O ZoneAlarm/Check Point HomePage	Submit malware to Kaspersky as ZoneAlarm uses the same signatures	Submit false positives to Kaspersky as ZoneAlarm uses the same signatures
Zoner HomePage	I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting malware	I have confirmed that there is no online false positive submission form I have confirmed that there is no email address for submitting false positives

5. How You Can Help

If you find that there is a vendor which I have left out of the list, please leave a comment about this so I can investigate. Also, if you find that any of the information I provide is incorrect, please let me know immediately so that I can fix this. This includes circumstances in which, I say I have confirmed that an option does not exist when it now does; information that does not work as promised; vendors that no longer support their product, etc. I will personally look into all information provided before adding it to the article. Starred products are those that I currently realize are in need of information. I could really use your help with those vendors as well.

That said, because of the strict requirements I have imposed for stating that I have confirmed that something does not exist, I will not be able to say that I have confirmed that submission options do not exist just because someone states it in the comments. I hope you understand that I am not insulting anyone but just being very cautious before adding information to the article. However, things like submission links or email addresses I can investigate myself and add. I only need an official response for confirming that something does not currently exist.

I really do need your help to maintain this article as this is way too much information for me to investigate on my own. Keeping this list up to date would require an astronomical amount of work, and I’m already very busy with many other projects. I thank you for whatever time you can contribute to make this the best malware submission article on the internet.