{"id":49872,"date":"2025-10-20T16:47:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T16:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/?p=49872"},"modified":"2025-10-20T16:47:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T16:47:42","slug":"lenspect-new-malware-scanner-app-for-linux-desktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/2025\/10\/lenspect-new-malware-scanner-app-for-linux-desktop\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenspect – New Malware Scanner App for Linux Desktop"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Want to scan your files for security threats? Here a new app can do the job for Linux Desktop.<\/p>\n

It’s Lenspect<\/a>, a free open-source Python written application that features a lightweight user interface designed for GNOME. And, it uses VirusTotal as backend for scanning.<\/p>\n

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As you may know, there’s a ClamAV AntiVirus software that supports Linux. It has a graphical front-end ClamTk<\/strong> (available in App Center or Ubuntu Software), that provides simple interface to scan your files or directories for malware.<\/p>\n

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ClamTk<\/p><\/div>\n

ClamAV is great for basic use, but if you want to check for viruses that ClamAV may have missed or verify against any false positives, then VirusTotal is a good alternative and Lenspect is a graphical front-end for it working on Linux.<\/p>\n

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Lendspect<\/p><\/div>\n

VirusTotal is an online service created by the Spanish security company Hispasec Sistemas. The company now belongs to Google Security Operations, a subsidiary of Google.<\/p>\n

It’s a free service that aggregates over 70 antivirus engines and URL\/domain blocklisting services called Contributors. They include Arcabit, Avast, BitDefender, ClamAV, McAfee, and more. See this page<\/a> for all the scanning engines.<\/p>\n

With it, you may scan files, IPs, and URLs to detect malware with multiple anti-malware or antivirus engines concurrently<\/b>. Though as an online service, you need to upload file through either its web page<\/a>, browser extension, or API.<\/p>\n

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Lenspect uses VirusTotal API to upload you files, then show you a scan summary, while you may click open in VirusTotal website for a more detailed information, including analysis from different antivirus products, file details, and more.<\/p>\n

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View scan details in virustotal.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The standard API is free but has limitations. They include 4 lookups per min<\/em>, 500 lookups per day<\/em>, 15.5 K lookups per month<\/em>, and non-business use.<\/p>\n

Install Lenspect<\/h3>\n

NOTE that the app will send your file to VirusTotal, DON’T use it for scanning sensitive data.<\/b><\/p>\n

Lenspect is available to install in most Linux through Flatpak package<\/a>, which runs in sandbox environment.<\/p>\n

Linux Mint and Fedora Workstation may simply search & install the application from either Software Manager or GNOME Software.<\/p>\n

While Ubuntu and other Linux can do the steps below one by one to get it:<\/p>\n