Speed tests flagged as malicious (VirusTotal)

TL;DR

VirusTotal (the 96 underlying security vendors) does not flag any tested speed tests as malicious.

 

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Method of measurement
  3. Speed tests to test
  4. The measurements
  5. Conclusions
 

Introduction

Safety is the end result of all security and privacy measures. It is therefore a derivative, but not unimportant, feature of any website, including online speed tests.

This is one of many tests we run to get an idea of the safety of speed tests.

 

Method of measurement

For this test we visit the homepage of the speed test and check the safety with VirusTotal.

VirusTotal is a meta-analysis tool. Based on 96 different security vendors, it determines whether a website is flagged as malicious.

 

Speed tests to test

Because this is a relative simple test, all speed test used in earlier tests (the unique speed tests as collected at ZOMDir) will be tested.

Due to the subject we also test TestMyInternetSpeed. This is a crappy website which, under the guise of -we offer a speed test- only wants to obtain as many page views as possible.

 

The measurements

  1. Astound speedtest 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  2. Bandwidth Place 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  3. Bredbandskollen 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  4. Broadband Speed Checker 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  5. Cloudflare 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  6. Comparitech 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  7. DSLReports 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  8. Fast 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious. Community score: 37
  9. Fireprobe 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  10. Google Fiber 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  11. Internet Speed at a Glance 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  12. LibreSpeed 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  13. M-Lab 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  14. Meter.net 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  15. N Perf 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  16. Ookla Speedtest 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious. Community score: -17
  17. Open Speed Test 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious. Community score: 23
  18. SamKnows 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  19. SpeedCheck 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  20. SpeedOf.me 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious. Community score: -22
  21. SpeedOf.me API Sample Page 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  22. SpeedSmart 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  23. Speedtest4.PHP 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  24. TestMyInternetSpeed 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  25. TestMy.net 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  26. Toast 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  27. Which Broadband Speed Test 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious
  28. Xfinity xFi Speed Test 0/96 - No security vendors flagged this URL as malicious

Some examples

Some examples of test results are:

VirusTotal caches results, this result is 2 years old VirusTotal caches results, this result is 2 years old. When you press Reanalyze you get in a few minutes an updated status.

VirusTotal shows the number of many security vendors on which the result is based. Nowadays 96 security vendors are used VirusTotal shows the number of many security vendors on which the result is based. Nowadays 96 security vendors are used.

 

Conclusions

There are:

  1. Of the speed tests tested, none are flagged as malicious
  2. Four speed tests have a community score
    1. Fast and OpenSpeedTest have a positive community score
    2. Ookla's Speedtest and SpeedOf.me have a negative community score

Note that we don't attach much value to the community score. This is because it often reflects how things were years ago. However, it is a good reminder that what is considered safe today may be unsafe tomorrow.

VirusTotal (the 96 underlying security vendors) does not flag any tested speed tests as malicious.