CAD drawings, BOM lists, process documents, and assembly drawings circulate continuously through engineering, procurement, production, outsourcing, and customer acceptance in manufacturing enterprises. When this material leaks, it directly affects supply-chain negotiation, commercial competition, and process barriers. Shared-drive permissions, NDAs, and process responsibility allocations are all upfront agreements, but they lack enforced protection at the file level — the moment an employee copies, compresses, or renames a file, the original access-control framework no longer applies. Ping32 brings transparent encryption, authorised software, classification and security domains, decryption approval, and encryption/decryption logging together as a coordinated capability, lifting CAD drawings and BOM lists from “policy-bound” to “protected at the file level itself.”
Why CAD Drawings Have Long Been a High-Leakage-Risk Asset in Manufacturing
CAD drawings and BOM lists are unusual in that they circulate frequently, span many functions, and routinely involve external collaborators. Once engineering completes a drawing, it must go to procurement for quotation, to production for process planning, to outsourcing partners for fabrication, and to the customer for acceptance. Along the way, files are copied, compressed, forwarded, emailed, and pulled onto USB drives many times. Shared-drive permissions only govern “access inside the shared drive” — the moment a file moves to local storage, lands on a desktop, becomes a zip, or enters a personal cloud account, the permission framework is moot. Ping32 introduces transparent encryption at the file level so that, regardless of which endpoint, directory, or external cloud the file travels to, it cannot be opened normally outside an authorised environment.
Decomposing Transparent Encryption Governance into Four Actions: Encryption Policy, Authorised Software, Classification and Security Domains, and Decryption Approval
Transparent encryption governance needs four interlocked actions. First, the encryption policy decides which file types, directories, and process outputs are auto-encrypted. Second, authorised software registers designated CAD, Office, and engineering tools so authorised software can read and write encrypted files normally while unauthorised software cannot. Third, classification and security domains attach sensitivity and domain attributes to encrypted files, controlling visibility across departments and roles. Fourth, decryption approval routes any file that must leave the authorised environment through an approval workflow. Ping32 unifies these four actions into one coherent policy system, giving CAD drawings and BOM lists genuine file-level enforced protection.
Operationalising Transparent Encryption and Authorised Software in the Ping32 Console
The Ping32 console offers full policy entries and result views for transparent encryption, authorised software, classification and security domains, decryption approval, encryption/decryption logging, and alert correlation. Administrators can roll out CAD- and BOM-focused encryption governance with the steps below.
Step 1: Establish baseline encryption rules on the transparent encryption policy page.
From the left navigation of the Ping32 console, open the document encryption section and enter the transparent encryption policy page to create a new policy. Configure encryption targets: file extensions (dwg, dxf, step, prt, catpart, xlsx, docx), encryption directories, and files produced by encrypted processes. Scope the policy to engineering, process planning, procurement, and any department that handles CAD or BOM material. Ping32 will auto-encrypt files that match the rules on endpoints in scope.
Step 2: Register authorised software and configure read/write permissions.
On the authorised software management page, register the applications the organisation needs (AutoCAD, SolidWorks, CATIA, UG, Pro/E, Office, WPS, Notepad). For each application, configure the main process name, derivative processes, and read/write permissions. Authorised software can read and write encrypted files normally while unauthorised software cannot open them. Through this mechanism, Ping32 lets engineers continue to design, modify, and save in their CAD tools while denying unauthorised processes access to encrypted content.
Step 3: Establish classification and security domain attributes.
On the classification and security domain management page, define the classifications the organisation needs (general, internal, confidential, top secret) and security domains (engineering, procurement, production, outsourcing). In the transparent encryption policy, assign matching classifications and domains to files produced in different directories or by different processes. Ping32 records classification and domain attributes in encrypted file metadata, controlling visibility as files cross departmental lines.
Step 4: Establish decryption approval workflow with validity management.
On the approval template page, create a decryption approval template and specify approvers (engineering leads, security administrators, compliance staff). Configure approval dimensions: justification, recipient, validity, one-time decryption only, and whether to generate an externally distributable copy. Employees raise decryption requests from the endpoint approval entry; Ping32 generates the externally distributable file only after approval. Rejections leave the file encrypted.
Step 5: Enable encryption/decryption logging and file lifecycle tracing.
On the encryption/decryption record page, log every encryption, decryption, read, and save action. Captured fields include file name, operation type, process, endpoint, user, time, classification, and security domain. Security and compliance teams can use this page to review the full lifecycle of CAD files and verify that all encrypted files remain in scope.
Step 6: Configure abnormal-event alerts on encrypted files with multi-party notification.
On the alert rule page, configure triggers for unusual decryption-request frequency, unauthorised-process attempts to read encrypted files, bulk copying of encrypted files, encrypted-file egress attempts, and cross-domain access. Direct alerts to engineering leads, compliance staff, and security administrators. Ping32 dispatches alerts the moment anomalies appear so the encryption regime is not silently bypassed.
Through these six steps, Ping32 weaves transparent encryption, authorised software, classification and security domains, decryption approval, encryption/decryption logging, and abnormal alerting into a coherent governance path for CAD drawings and BOM lists.
Lifting CAD Drawings and BOM Lists from Policy Reliance to Built-In File-Level Protection
CAD drawings and BOM lists are among the most central assets a manufacturer holds, and they have long been managed through policy, NDAs, and shared-drive permissions. By combining transparent encryption, authorised software, classification and security domains, decryption approval, encryption/decryption logging, and abnormal alerting, Ping32 sinks the protection mechanism into the file itself. Security teams, engineering leads, and compliance staff can review every CAD file’s encryption state, read/write history, decryption requests, egress approvals, and alert events from the same Ping32 console view, heading off familiar incidents such as “drawings lost control after being copied,” “a BOM was emailed to a personal mailbox without approval,” or “an encrypted file was read by an unauthorised tool unnoticed.” The value Ping32 delivers in transparent-encryption governance is precisely lifting protection of core engineering assets from policy reliance to an engineered mechanism, giving CAD drawings and BOM lists genuine file-level protection.
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