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Securing CAD files along the supply chain with HaloCAD

Nowadays, the digital supply chain is both essential and vulnerable. According to Pinsent Masons annual cyber report, supply chain breaches were the most common form of cyber incident in 2023 occuring in one third of cases (up from 5% in 2022). Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that almost half (45%) of global organizations will suffer a digital supply chain attack by 2025.

October 15, 2024
Securing CAD files along the supply chain with HaloCAD

Nowadays, the digital supply chain is both essential and vulnerable. According to Pinsent Masons annual cyber report, supply chain breaches were the most common form of cyber incident in 2023 occurring in one third of cases (up from 5% in 2022). Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that almost half (45%) of global organizations will suffer a digital supply chain attack by 2025. 

Manufacturing and design businesses that use CAD files for blueprints, drawings, models and plans are particularly at risk. Without in-built CAD security, the sensitive IP data contained in CAD files becomes susceptible to leaks and attacks when shared externally. 

But with Secude’s HaloCAD, you can secure your CAD files no matter where they travel. 

Why are your CAD files at risk when shared externally?

How many supply chain partners do you have? How many partners do they have? How many staff and consultants do they employ? How many devices do they use? How secure are the applications on those devices? When operating in multi-party supply chains, the list of potential security gaps is almost impossible to calculate, let alone plug. 

In particular, CAD files are at risk because of:

  • Multiple third-party partners. Put simply: the more supply chain partners you have, the greater the potential for a data breach. Be it hardware attacks, software threats, accidental leaks or inadvertent data loss, it only takes one hole to flood the entire ecosystem, but today’s supply chains are long and complex with the likes of TotalEnergies working with more than 100,000 worldwide suppliers.

  • Third-party vulnerabilities. Your supply chain partners have a varying degree of cybersecurity and cyber attackers look to exploit the weakest link in the chain. By targeting lesser-protected subcontractors as an entry point, attackers can gain access to your sensitive IP data in CAD files. For example, in 2023, cyber attackers compromised the SolarWinds network to gain remote access to thousands of organizations’ servers along the supply chain, including the US Government.

  • Unsecure workflows. Supply chain workflows stretch far beyond your company’s IT perimeter, and these workflows must be seamless to ensure operational efficiency and competitiveness, which comes at a security cost. Each time you share CAD designs to consultants via the cloud or send blueprints to contractors, you’re putting your IP at risk unless you have stringent security measures in place. 

Limited visibility. Despite the heightened security risk of supply chain collaboration, only 13% of organizations review the risk of their immediate suppliers and just 7% assess the wider supply chain. Even with regular risk assessments and monitoring, though, it’s impossible to keep track of all your partners’ actions and security performance, or enforce change if inadequate protections are found.  

How HaloCAD protects CAD files when shared externally 

The average supply chain attack costs organizations in key industries, such as aerospace and defense, $82 million. To ensure your CAD files are protected from targeted attacks or supply chain partner negligence, you need to protect CAD files from creation. 

HaloCAD extends Microsoft's Zero Trust protection to CAD applications. Integrated at the application layer, HaloCAD’s MPIP extension enforces authorized access control beyond your IT perimeter, securing your CAD files when shared with third party suppliers that may not have the most advanced security. 

As HaloCAD’s authorization labels remain with CAD files for their lifetime, it doesn't matter if a third-party brings a new subcontractor on board or accidentally hires a bad actor as your sensitive data is still protected - even if CAD files fall into the wrong hands. 

What’s more, HaloCAD does not adversely impact the end-user experience, so you can collaborate seamlessly and securely on large scale projects, such as Federal government contracts or national infrastructure projects, without compromising on productivity. 

Case study: Aerospace Contractor

An aerospace contractor uses CAD files for engineering drawings when collaborating on projects for the US Department of Defense (DoD). As the DoD drawings are considered Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), the aerospace contractor uses HaloCAD to ensure its CAD files are encrypted from creation and only accessible by authorized users both inside and outside the company. 

Check out the case study here

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