Malware research group vx-underground claims to own the largest collection of malware source code, amounting to roughly 30 terabytes, as stated in a post on X. Meanwhile, Bernardo Quintero, founder of VirusTotal, responded with his service's data size: an impressive 31 petabytes of malware samples, as noted in a reply.
The Scale of Malware Data
To put these figures into perspective, it's important to understand the significance of these data repositories. Cybersecurity companies, AI researchers, and threat intelligence firms rely heavily on these collections for training detection models and examining the evolution of cyber threats.
Visualizing the Data
We calculated the physical size of these data collections using 1 terabyte capacity internal hard drives, each about 1 inch in height. Vx-underground's 30 terabytes would require 30 hard drives, stacking up to 30 inches, or approximately 2.5 feet.
In contrast, VirusTotal's 31 petabytes would need 31,744 hard drives, reaching a height of about 2,645 feet when stacked. For scale, the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, stands at 2,722 feet, making VirusTotal's data equivalent to nearly the same height.
Comparative Landmarks
The Eiffel Tower, at 1,083 feet, is significantly shorter. VirusTotal's dataset is equivalent to stacking nearly two and a half Eiffel Towers. Such comparisons highlight the massive scale of data handled by these organizations.
These calculations underline the sheer volume of data managed by vx-underground and VirusTotal, emphasizing their critical role in cybersecurity and threat assessment.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/13/this-is-what-some-the-worlds-largest-banks-of-malware-look-like-stacked-as-hard-drives/
