Data Security & Intellectual Property Protection for the Manufacturing Industry
SealPath secures high-value industrial assets, engineering designs, and proprietary CAD files across your entire supply chain. The solution automates data-centric encryption and access control, enabling manufacturers to collaborate safely with suppliers, subcontractors, and partners without risking competitive advantage.A sector in transformation subject to cybersecurity risks
The current trend in automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies are responsible for the major transformation of the industrial sector known as Industry 4.0. The basis of the new smart industry entails thorough automation of factories, digitalisation of the production processes and new communication channels. This increases the possibility of organised cyber attacks since information that used to be kept inside the network security perimeter is now shared with various external systems and agents.
Flexible collaboration while ensuring security
R&D investment in this sector is more important than ever before due to the rate of change and the need to adapt to the new environment. Digitalisation also means that there are more and more data in digital format that must be shared not only internally but also with partners, subcontractors, etc. The challenge is to maintain optimum communication processes while ensuring that the company’s intellectual property is safeguarded.
CAD designs and other document formats
The sensitive information is found in various formats, from Word, Excel or PDF to images and, of course, CAD designs. A good deal of the company’s intellectual property is found in 2D and 3D CAD designs that must be shared both internally and with external collaborators. Protecting this information is vital to avoid the risk of leaks due to internal or external threats.
Meet the audit and protection requirements of your strictest customers.
Customers expect that the information they share with their manufacturing and engineering suppliers will meet their information access control and protection criteria. A data-centric protection approach will comply with the strictest audit and protection policy criteria imposed by your customers.
Types of industrial information at risk
The following are examples of practical cases in which the data generated by manufacturing, energy, automotive and engineering companies etc. must be protected.
- Support documentation containing details of components , that are exchanged with customers, suppliers or manufacturing partners.
- CAD designs created in tools such as AutoCAD, Dassault Systems SolidWorks, Siemens NX, SolidEdge,, etc., that contain details of components and are shared with internal and external recipients.
- Proce data that may be exchanged with distributors in various markets.
- Proposals made to customers to compete with other companies and which contain sensitive information on the company’s competitive advantages.
- Internal quality guidelines that contain know-how related to company’s production processes.
- Compliance with customers’ protection audits and policies, ensuring that the data they share with you are audited and protected by access control.
The SealPath data-centric protection approach
One of the most important priorities in the industrial sector is to protect intellectual property that circulates internally and is sometimes shared with partners. SealPath provides a data-centric protection approach that will enable you to:
- Protect your CAD designs regardless of their location. . Control who accesses the data, when and with what permission (display or edit the design but not print it or save it without protection.
- Place watermarks on the documents o that if anyone takes a screenshot they will travel with the email address of the person who opened it, their IP address and the date/time.
- Mitigate the risk of data leaks through internal threats, by detecting if anyone is trying to access your confidential files or performing mass removal of protection.
- Set expiry dates on CAD documents and designs so that only you will have access to the documentation once the agreement or deadline has elapsed.
Regardless of how you share your data or where you store it you can maintain control over it by using SealPath, thus mitigating the risk of losing your intellectual property.