Imagine you're about to download a model for your project and, before opening it, you see a flag that tells you whether that file was analyzed by a threat platform. Reassuring, right? That's exactly what Hugging Face and VirusTotal announced today: an automatic security check for public files on the Hub.
What Hugging Face announced and why it matters
Hugging Face published on October 22, 2025 that it’s starting a collaboration with VirusTotal to improve the security of files shared on the Hub. From that date on, all public repositories on the Hub go through continuous checks using VirusTotal’s intelligence. (huggingface.co)
Why does this matter to you? Because models and datasets aren’t just weights and matrices: they often include binaries, serialized objects, and dependencies that can hide dangerous code or be tied to malware campaigns. By adding a layer of analysis with VirusTotal, the community gains visibility into potential risks before you integrate or download assets. ()
