Securing Engineering Files
Engineering drawings are your most valuable IP. Your security stack was never built to protect them.
Traditional data protection tools were designed around standard business documents, Word files, PDFs, spreadsheets, emails. They classify, monitor, and encrypt the formats they were built to understand.
Engineering files are a different problem entirely. CAD files, DWG models, SolidWorks assemblies, simulation outputs, and technical specifications fall outside the scope of standard DLP and encryption tools. They are too complex, too large, and too custom for tools that were never designed for them. And they are routinely shared across supply chains, contractor networks, and project teams with no persistent protection once they leave.
GuardWare PROTECT Design is the world’s first solution to encrypt engineering files while they are open and in active use. The encryption does not pause when the file is opened. It does not stop when the file is transferred. It stays with the file regardless of where it goes.
The challenge
Standard encryption stops when the engineering file opens. PROTECT Design doesn’t.
For engineering files that are worked on continuously across teams, time zones, and supply chains, the standard protection gap is permanent and structural. The moment an authorised user opens the file to work on it, most encryption solutions offer no protection. For design files that may be opened, modified, exported, and shared dozens of times across a project lifecycle, that is not a gap. It is an absence of protection.
Supply chains multiply the exposure. A defence prime shares designs with a subcontractor. A manufacturer shares specifications with a component supplier. An engineer shares models with an external consultant. Each handoff is a potential exposure point. Once the file leaves, the originating organisation has no visibility into what happens to it, who accesses it, or whether it can be revoked.
How GuardWare solves it
PROTECT Design applies persistent in-use encryption to engineering files using AES-256 and RSA-2048 hybrid encryption at the file level. The encryption remains active in storage, in transit, and while the file is being worked on. Every output file generated within a protected environment is automatically encrypted regardless of file type.
Remote key revocation allows access to be destroyed instantly from a central console. A supplier engagement ends. The files become inaccessible immediately, with no physical interaction required.
The Outcome
- Engineering files stay encrypted in storage, in transit, and while in active use
- Remote kill switch destroys access to any file instantly when an engagement ends
- Unique key per file isolates risk so a single compromised file does not expose the entire project
- Transparent to authorised engineers — no workflow changes required
- Supports offline, online, and hybrid environments including air-gapped facilities
- Patent pending persistent in-use encryption for CAD and engineering file types
How it works
Protect
PROTECT Design applies AES-256 and RSA-2048 encryption to engineering files at the file level. Encryption is persistent across storage, transit, and active use.
Share
Encrypted files can be shared with any supplier, contractor, or partner. The encryption travels with the file. The originating organisation retains control.
Control
A central management console provides full oversight of who has access to every protected file. Access can be granted, restricted, or revoked at any time.
Revoke
When a supplier engagement ends, remote key destruction renders all associated files cryptographically unreadable instantly, from anywhere, with no physical interaction required.
Common Questions
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