VirusTotal's service is pretty simple: Just visit the Website and either or . Also available are a Windows and for Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.

In , VirusTotal says it will operate independently from Google and will keep its partnerships with other antivirus companies and security experts. The company says Google can help improve the service and "ensure that our tools are always ready, right when you need them."

Google in a statement that it can provide VirusTotal with "the infrastructure they need to ensure that their service continues to improve." The terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

As with so many tech company acquisitions, Google isn't saying what it hopes to get out of the service, but since VirusTotal around, the service itself may not be what Google's after.

This is just speculation, but the value in VirusTotal may be in its partnerships with antivirus companies and the dataset it creates for all scans. Google already for unsafe Websites, warns Chrome users about potentially malicious sites, and scans e-mail attachments for viruses. The search giant may improve its existing security services using VirusTotal's data, so it'd make sense for Google to keep the service alive and let its dataset grow.