This is interesting research, but is it something you would use?
The researchers’ new approach, called CloudAV, moves antivirus functionality into the “network cloud” and off personal computers. CloudAV analyzes suspicious files using multiple antivirus and behavioral detection programs simultaneously.
In general, that’s not a bad idea. It might save a few CPU cycles on your local workstation by not having to directly virus scan files. Then again, you have to use network resources uploading each file to the cloud, where it is scanned for you.
Each time a computer or device receives a new document or program, that item is automatically detected and sent to the antivirus cloud for analysis.
The privacy concerns here are obvious. Would you trust CloudAV to receive a copy of every file you want to virus scan? How sure can you be that they don’t use the contents for something else, or accidentally leak private information?
I think this idea has more merit as an internal virus scanning system for a large organization. That way sensitive data doesn’t have to leave the corporate boundary, or be sent to a third party. The benefit is that you have a more thorough and updated virus scanning engine, possibly using several different products at once.
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