BitDefender Releases BitTorrent Scanner

Romanian antivirus vendor BitDefender has released a stand-alone malware scanner which integrates with µTorrent and can be used to check downloaded torrents for threats.

µTorrent, intended to be called "micro torrent," but commonly referred to as utorrent, is the most popular BitTorrent client after Xunlei, which is almost exclusively used in China.

Since version 2.2, µTorrent offers a software development kit (SDK) for third-party developers to extend the functionality of the client with their own apps.

Dubbed "Virus Guard," BitDefender's newly released µTorrent app is most likely at the core a rebranded version of the company's BitDefender free malware scanner.

Although it installs separately on the system, it integrates very well with µTorrent. Users can select to scan all torrents or only individual ones by selecting them from the list and clicking a special toolbar icon.

Before each scan, the application makes sure that it has the latest malware definition files. The results are also displayed inside the µTorrent interface.

Virus Guard can scan inside archives, including the ZIP, RAR and TAR formats, the most commonly used formats for torrents.

The scanner is also incorporated into the official BitTorrent client owned by BitTorrent Inc., which is a rebranded version of µTorrent.

"Security is a high priority for BitTorrent and our community, and we are very pleased to partner with BitDefender  to give our users peace of mind knowing that they are being offered advanced anti-malware features," said Claude Tolbert, vice president of business development for BitTorrent.

"BitTorrent is a powerful and increasingly popular way for users to exchange content they value. Its increasing popularity has made third-party hosting sites a target for malware authors to try to infect users’ systems," warned Peter Laakkonen, BitDefender's general manager of OEM and technology licensing.