Design a file upload and scanning report system

Q: Design a file upload and scanning report system

This question evaluates a candidate's ability to design scalable, secure distributed systems for asynchronous file handling, including API design, data modeling, multi-engine scanning orchestration, reliability, and observability.

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Question

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Design a system that lets users upload files, scans them, and produces a final report.

Core workflow

User uploads a file.
System runs one or more scans (e.g., malware scan, policy/DLP scan, file-type validation).
System generates a report (structured findings + overall pass/fail + metadata).
User can query scan status and download the report.

Requirements

Handle large files (up to multiple GB).
Scanning is asynchronous; user should not have to keep the connection open.
Support multiple scan engines per file (some may be slow/fail).
Provide status states: UPLOADING , QUEUED , SCANNING , COMPLETED , FAILED .
Secure by default (authn/authz, encryption, least privilege).
Scalable to high throughput (assume tens of millions of files/day).

Deliverables

APIs (or UI flows) you would expose
High-level architecture and key components
Data model for file metadata, scan jobs, and reports
Reliability strategy (retries, idempotency, partial failures)
Observability and operational considerations

Design a file upload and scanning report system

Quick Overview

Core workflow

Requirements

Deliverables

Solution

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