Two catch a Thief
Since the earliest I can tell around 2006 a gentlemen by the name of Dixon has Ben mining data from virustotal in a Revelation that hackers were using the site to test there malicious ware ( malware ) and hacking programs .
You must Be A Thief
Remember the show ( Two Catch a Thief ) man it was a awesome show but any who lets not get off topic .
It doesn’t state in the article whom Dixon works for or if this was the primary objective of his mining data or if he had proper permission and if he notified the owner ( Google ) in a timely fashion to counter said threats .
Mining Mr Dixons Trails Of Mining
What kinds of data did he mine ?
Did he just grab data viewed as of an attacking nature or in the midst of his mining grab a hold of highly sensitive material belonging to privet citizens ?
Dose he work for the government and or did he run into the NSA or other affiliated organizations trying to hone there spy tools ?
So many unanswered questions but without further delay straight out of the archives of wired I give you hacking the hackers .
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/how-hackers-use-virustotal/?mbid=social_gplus
Virustotal
Well folks virustotal seems two be pretty complex with a lot going on .
After going to there virustotal ( about Paige ) noticing a disclaimer here or there and also within the first few lines stating it is owned by Google .
I make no representation whether the product and its scanners are any good except for my own love of ( Google ) and the eyebrow that was lifted and thinking ( Google Good ) .
But without further delay check out the about Paige for virustotal and get your feet wet .
https://www.virustotal.com/en/about/
And here is a nice video that shows what virustotal is all about although it is a little out dated it is the best one I could find so check it out .
In Conclusion
Who knows who else utilizes such mining techniques but to me in it self appears to be a risk factor .
But hey who knows .
Have a great none attacked none privacy mined day I be gone .