Is Research Associate.docx safe?
Newly submitted Office document with zero engine detections but extremely limited history.
The file shows no malicious detections across 75 engines. Its rarity and lack of sandbox or host-reputation data leave the verdict inconclusive.
b7a0d5f6f0458bb432…19b7361e571da3Recommended next actions
Before opening
Treat the file as unverified and avoid opening it until more evidence is available.
If you already opened it
Run a full device scan. If its origin cannot be confirmed, delete this file and use a fresh copy from a trusted source.
Intelligence
The saved assessment, checked against the scan evidence and recorded coverage.
The reasoning behind this verdict
This section explains the evidence supporting the verdict and keeps conflicting or missing signals visible.
The file shows no malicious detections across 75 engines. Its rarity and lack of sandbox or host-reputation data leave the verdict inconclusive.
Zero detections from 75 reporting engines, including 16 tier-1 engines, indicate no known malicious signatures. The file is only two submissions old and has never been observed in our sandbox or network telemetry. Similar .docx files previously received unknown verdicts due to empty-file conditions. Without runtime behaviour or external-intel corroboration, the evidence is insufficient to classify the document as safe or malicious.
What We Detected
75 antivirus engines scanned the 16 KB Office Open XML document; none returned a malicious or suspicious result. No code-signing data, sandbox execution, or external-intel hits are available.
Threat Behavior
No MITRE techniques, dropped children, or contacted hosts were observed because behaviour and contactedHosts blocks are null. The file's first-seen date is today, so prevalence data is minimal.
What To Do Now
Exercise caution with newly submitted documents that lack history. Open the file only in a sandboxed environment or with macros disabled until additional reputation data becomes available.
- zero detections across 75 engines
- no external-intel or YARA hits
- rare_new classification with only two submissions
- no sandbox or host-reputation coverage
Treat the document as untrusted until more submissions or sandbox results appear; keep endpoint protection enabled.
Coverage & freshness
Complete means the check returned a usable result. It does not mean the file is safe.
Antivirus
Complete0 of 75 engines flagged the file.
Sandbox
PartialRuntime data is present, but no completed sandbox environment is recorded.
Network
Not runNo contacted-host reputation check is recorded.
No timestamp recordedYARA
CompleteRule evaluation completed with no recorded matches.
External intel
Complete3 of 3 independent reference sources completed.
Behavior
Plain-English impact first, then the observed runtime evidence.
Runtime behavior was not available
The report does not treat a missing runtime observation as a clean result.
Detection & Forensics
Consensus, attribution, signatures, code structure, prevalence, and identity.
Evidence integrity
Chain of custody for the facts preserved in this report.
- 0rule hits recorded
- 0 / 75engines flagged
- 2sources in submission history
Why these facts are shown
Each statement identifies whether it was directly recorded or derived from saved scan facts.
- 01
No completed runtime observation is available for this file.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceDerivedSourceRuntime coverageObserved at - 02
0 of 75 antivirus engines flagged the file.
ProvenanceObservedSourceAntivirus analysisObserved at - 03
The hash has been submitted 2 times from 2 sources.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceSaved report factsObserved at
Detection sources at a glance
The available sources did not agree on a named threat category.
MalwareBazaar, YARAify, and CIRCL hashlookup completed and returned no entries for this hash.
YARA rules
No matchesThe rule pass completed without a saved public match.
0 of 75 engines flagged this file
View all 75 engine results
PE structure
Not applicablePE structure analysis applies to Windows executable formats, not this file type.
How widely this file has been seen
Barely seen in the wild and first surfaced recently. That limits reputation evidence, but rarity alone is not proof of malware.
Fingerprint and provenance
- File name
- Research Associate.docx
- Format
- Office Open XML Document
- Code signing
- Not applicable to this file type
- Size
- 16.2 KB
- Last analyzed
- Sep 1, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC
b7a0d5f6f0458bb432625a7be3d77ce68883e14d3eeabe272b19b7361e571da3Safety & FAQ
Complete recovery guidance and answers for the next decision.
What to do now
There isn't enough information to give this file a clear rating.
- Recovery step 01
Be cautious — an unknown rating is not the same as a clean bill of health.
- Recovery step 02
Open it only when its sender or download source is one you independently trust.
- Recovery step 03
When in doubt, don't open it — or scan it again later once it's more widely seen.
Safety FAQ
Direct answers grounded in the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is Research Associate.docx safe? What is it?
What is Research Associate.docx?
How many antivirus engines detected Research Associate.docx?
What is the SHA-256 hash of Research Associate.docx?
How up to date is this analysis of Research Associate.docx?
Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.