Breaking News: OpenClaw has officially announced a partnership with VirusTotal to bring automated malware scanning to all skills published in the ClawHub community marketplace. This guide explains what this means for your OpenClaw setup, how to enable the security scanner, and how to protect your AI agent and personal data. Updated February 2026.
OpenClaw's rapid growth in 2026 has attracted an enormous community of skill developers — thousands of extensions that let your AI agent do everything from booking flights to controlling smart home devices. But as with any open ecosystem, the question of security becomes paramount: how do you know a skill you install won't exfiltrate your API keys, read your private messages, or install malware on your machine?
That's why the OpenClaw team's partnership with VirusTotal — the world's leading multi-engine threat intelligence platform, now owned by Google — is such a significant development. VirusTotal scans files and URLs against 70+ antivirus engines simultaneously, and this power is now being brought directly to the OpenClaw skill publishing pipeline.
This guide explains everything: how the new scanning works, how to verify skills before installing, how to audit your currently installed skills, and how to build a comprehensive security posture for your OpenClaw deployment — including network-level protection with VPN07.
What the OpenClaw × VirusTotal Partnership Means
Before the Partnership
- • Skills published to ClawHub were reviewed by community volunteers only
- • No automated malware detection
- • Users had to manually review skill source code
- • No real-time threat intelligence
- • Malicious skills could slip through
After the Partnership
- • Every ClawHub skill submission scanned by 70+ AV engines
- • Automated URL/domain reputation checks
- • Code pattern analysis for suspicious behavior
- • VirusTotal Trust Score displayed per skill
- • Real-time threat intelligence integration
The VirusTotal Trust Score
Each skill in the ClawHub marketplace now displays a VirusTotal Trust Score from 0–100. Skills scoring above 85 are considered safe to install. Scores below 50 are flagged with a red warning, and scores between 50–84 display a yellow caution badge. You can click any skill's badge to view the full VirusTotal scan report.
The score factors in: static code analysis, dependency scanning, network endpoint reputation, and behavioral pattern matching against known malware signatures.
The Real Security Threats in AI Agent Skills
To understand why this partnership matters, let's look at the specific attack vectors that malicious OpenClaw skills could exploit:
HIGH RISK API Key Theft
A malicious skill could read your ~/.openclaw/config.json or environment variables to steal your OpenAI, Anthropic, or other API keys, then send them to an attacker's server. This could result in thousands of dollars in unexpected API charges.
HIGH RISK Message History Exfiltration
Since OpenClaw has full system access by design, a rogue skill could read your iMessage history, WhatsApp database, or email archives and send sensitive conversations to external servers without your knowledge.
MEDIUM RISK Dependency Chain Attacks
Skills that import npm packages could pull in compromised dependencies (supply chain attacks). VirusTotal's dependency scanner now flags skills that import packages with known CVEs or suspicious update patterns.
MEDIUM RISK Prompt Injection via Skills
A skill that fetches external content (websites, RSS feeds, emails) could inject malicious instructions into the AI model's context — causing your agent to take unintended actions like sending messages or purchasing items.
Enable VirusTotal Scanning in OpenClaw
Starting with OpenClaw v0.8.0+, VirusTotal scanning is available for skill installations. Here's how to enable it:
1 Update OpenClaw to Latest Version
npm update -g openclaw
openclaw --version # Should show v0.8.0 or higher
2 Get a Free VirusTotal API Key
Visit virustotal.com/gui/join-us and create a free account. The free tier provides 500 API requests per day — more than enough for normal OpenClaw skill usage.
Find your API key at: My Profile → API Key tab. Copy it — it looks like a 64-character hex string.
3 Configure VirusTotal in OpenClaw
# Add VirusTotal API key to OpenClaw config
openclaw config set security.virustotal.apiKey "YOUR_VT_API_KEY_HERE"
openclaw config set security.virustotal.enabled true
openclaw config set security.virustotal.blockOnDetection true
# Verify configuration
openclaw config get security
With blockOnDetection: true, OpenClaw will refuse to install any skill that VirusTotal flags as suspicious.
4 Scan Existing Installed Skills
# Scan all currently installed skills
openclaw skills scan --all
# Scan a specific skill
openclaw skills scan --name "my-skill-name"
# View scan report
openclaw skills scan --report
Complete OpenClaw Security Hardening Guide
1. Protect Your API Keys
• Store API keys in environment variables, not in config files: export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-..."
• Use separate API keys for OpenClaw vs. direct AI usage — this limits blast radius if compromised
• Set spending limits on your OpenAI/Anthropic accounts as a safety net
2. Verify Skill Sources
• Only install skills from the official ClawHub marketplace (not random GitHub repos)
• Check the skill author's profile: number of other published skills, community ratings, account age
• Prefer skills with 50+ installs and positive reviews over brand-new unlisted ones
• Read the skill's permissions.json — it lists exactly what system access the skill requests
3. Monitor Agent Activity
# Watch real-time agent actions
openclaw logs --level debug -f
# Review today's action history
openclaw history --since today
# Check outbound network calls made by agent
openclaw logs --filter "network" --since 24h
Review your agent's action history weekly. Any unexplained outbound API calls to unknown domains are a red flag.
4. Network-Level Protection with VPN07
Even with VirusTotal scanning, a sophisticated skill could make API calls to malicious servers that haven't been indexed yet. VPN07 adds a crucial network-level security layer:
• DNS filtering: VPN07 blocks known malicious domains at the DNS level
• Traffic encryption: All your agent's API calls are encrypted through VPN07's WireGuard tunnel
• IP masking: Prevents data exfiltration servers from tracking your real IP location
• 1000Mbps throughput: Security doesn't mean slow — VPN07 maintains full speed for legitimate API calls
Manually Auditing Suspicious Skills
For skills you're uncertain about, here's how to conduct a manual security audit:
# List all installed skills with paths
openclaw skills list --verbose
# View a specific skill's source code
cat ~/.openclaw/skills/SKILL_NAME/index.js
# Check what external URLs a skill accesses
grep -r "fetch\|axios\|http\|https" ~/.openclaw/skills/SKILL_NAME/
# Check what file system paths a skill accesses
grep -r "readFile\|writeFile\|readdir\|unlink" ~/.openclaw/skills/SKILL_NAME/
# Check for suspicious data exfiltration patterns
grep -r "config\|apiKey\|token\|password" ~/.openclaw/skills/SKILL_NAME/
Red Flags: Uninstall Immediately If You See These
• Skill reads ~/.openclaw/config.json and makes external HTTP calls in the same execution path
• Skill accesses /etc/passwd, ~/.ssh/, or other credential directories
• Skill uses base64 encoding/decoding on collected data before sending externally
• Skill's external domain is newly registered (check on whois) or has low reputation
• Skill has unusually broad file system or process permissions not relevant to its stated purpose
Incident Response: If Your Agent Is Compromised
Stop the Agent Immediately
openclaw gateway stop
openclaw daemon stop
Rotate All API Keys
Immediately rotate your OpenAI, Anthropic, and any other API keys configured in OpenClaw. Also change your messaging platform bot tokens.
Identify and Remove the Malicious Skill
openclaw skills scan --all
openclaw skills uninstall SUSPICIOUS_SKILL_NAME
Report to OpenClaw & VirusTotal
Submit the malicious skill to both OpenClaw's security team ([email protected]) and VirusTotal for analysis. This protects the entire community.
Add Network Security to OpenClaw with VPN07
The last line of defense for your AI agent's network traffic
VirusTotal scanning protects you from malicious skills — VPN07 protects you at the network level. With 1000Mbps bandwidth, servers in 70+ countries, and built-in DNS filtering that blocks known malicious domains, VPN07 adds a critical security layer that VirusTotal alone cannot provide. If a compromised skill tries to exfiltrate data to a known bad domain, VPN07's DNS protection blocks that request before it leaves your machine. At just $1.5/month with a 30-day money-back guarantee, VPN07 is the most cost-effective security upgrade for any OpenClaw deployment. Trusted for 10+ years of rock-solid performance.
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