Secure downloads

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a virtual machine, a request from a host operating system to download data from the Internet, wherein the request is received by way of secure shell (SSH) and comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address or uniform resource locator (URL) of the data and instructions for the virtual machine to execute the download of the data;

downloading, by the virtual machine, the data from the Internet to scan the downloaded data;

scanning, by the virtual machine, the downloaded data, wherein the scanning of the downloaded data further comprises determining whether the downloaded data attempted to alter a registry, changed system logs, opened one or more ports, or any combination thereof;

periodically receiving a query from the host machine regarding a status of the scanning of the downloaded data via secure shell, wherein the query is periodically received until the virtual machine responds to the query; and

transmitting, by the virtual machine, a copy of verified downloaded Internet data to the host machine, when the host machine initiates a secure copy (SCP) or secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) connection with the virtual machine, wherein the connection between the virtual machine and host machine is only initiated by the host machine and the virtual machine is unable to initiate communication with an operating system of the host machine.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the request to download the data comprises an Internet Protocol address or a Uniform Resource Locator of the data located on the Internet and instructions to download the data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning comprises at least scanning the data for malware, viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, adware, and worms.

4. The computer-implemented method of 1 , further comprising:

transmitting a status message pertaining to the scanning of the data in response to the periodic query.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:

when the status message indicates that scanning is complete, transmitting the scanned data to the host operating system via a Secure Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol in order to allow the host operating system to download the scanned data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the request comprises receiving the request from a Web browser embedded with instructions configured to request the virtual machine to download the data from the Internet or from a Document Linked Library within the host operating system configured to intercept a download request and transmit the download request to the virtual machine.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

memory comprising a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions is configured to cause the processor to:

receive from a host machine, at a virtual machine, a request from a host operating system to download data from the Internet, wherein the request is received by way of secure shell (SSH) and comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the virtual machine or uniform resource locator (URL) of the data and instructions for the virtual machine to execute the download of the data, and

download the data from the Internet onto the virtual machine and scan the downloaded data, wherein the scanning of the downloaded data further comprises determine if the downloaded data attempted to alter a registry, changed system logs, opened one or more ports, or any combination thereof;

periodically receive a query from the host machine regarding a status of the scanning of the downloaded data via secure shell, wherein the query is periodically received until the virtual machine responds to the query; and

transmit a copy of verified downloaded data from the virtual machine to the host machine, when the host machine initiates a secure copy (SCP) or secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) connection with the virtual machine, wherein the connection between the virtual machine and host machine is only initiated by the host machine and the virtual machine is unable to initiate communication with an operating system of the host machine.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the request to download the data comprises an Internet Protocol address or a Uniform Resource Locator of the data located on the Internet and instructions to download the data.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the set of instructions is further configured to cause the processor to scan the data for malware, viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, adware, and worms.

10. The apparatus of 7 , wherein the set of instructions is further configured to cause the processor to:

transmit a status message pertaining to the scanning of the data in response to the periodic query.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the set of instructions is further configured to cause the processor to:

when the status message indicates that scanning is complete, transmit the scanned data to the host operating system via a Secure Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol in order to allow the host operating system to download the scanned data.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the request is received from a Web browser embedded with instructions configured to request the virtual machine to download the data from the Internet or from a Document Linked Library within the host operating system configured to intercept a download request and transmit the download request to the virtual machine.

13. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program configured to cause a processor to:

receive from a host operating system, at a virtual machine, a request to download data from the Internet, wherein the request is received by way of secure shell (SSH) and comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the virtual machine or uniform resource locator (URL) of the data and instructions for the virtual machine to execute the download of the data;

download to a virtual machine the data from the Internet; and

scan the downloaded data, wherein the scanning of the downloaded data further comprises determine if the downloaded data attempted to alter a registry, changed system logs, opened one or more ports, or any combination thereof;

periodically receive a query from the host machine regarding a status of the scanning of the downloaded data via secure shell, wherein the query is periodically received until the virtual machine responds to the query;

transmit a copy of verified downloaded Internet data from the virtual machine to the host machine, when the host machine initiates a SCP or SFTP connection with the virtual machine, wherein the connection between the virtual machine and the host machine is only initiated by the host machine and the virtual machine is unable to initiate communication with an operating system of the host machine.

14. The computer program of claim 13 , wherein the request comprises an Internet Protocol address or a Uniform Resource Locator of the data located on the Internet and instructions to download the data.

15. The computer program of claim 13 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the processor to scan the data for malware, viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, adware, and worms.

16. The computer program of 13 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the processor to transmit a status message pertaining to the scanning of the data in response to the periodic query.

17. The computer program of claim 16 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the processor to:

when the status message indicates that scanning is complete, transmit the scanned data to the host operating system via a Secure Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol in order to allow the host operating system to download the scanned data.