I. Three Types of Endpoints in One Factory, Three Security Logics
In the digital landscape of a vehicle manufacturing enterprise, endpoint devices constitute three completely different security scenarios.
Office endpoints are the largest group in number. Employees in finance, HR, procurement, sales, and other departments use PCs to handle daily business. The office network is connected to the Internet, and employees can send and receive emails, access business systems, and use instant messaging tools. The core security requirements for these endpoints are: preventing business secrets from leaking, preventing malware intrusion, and ensuring software compliance.
R&D endpoints carry the enterprise’s most core knowledge assets. Vehicle design drawings, autonomous driving algorithm source code, battery management system parameters, simulation verification data—the value of these files is measured in the hundreds of millions. Once leaked, competitors can directly copy or reverse-engineer the product design approach. The core security requirements for these endpoints are: data encryption protection, outbound behavior control, and leak traceability.
Industrial control endpoints run on workshop production lines, controlling key processes such as stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly. A single industrial control computer is responsible for the takt time of an entire line. A single virus intrusion can cause the entire production line to halt. In 2025, an industrial control computer in the stamping workshop of an automotive parts factory in Liuzhou was infected by a virus from a USB drive inserted by an external maintenance worker. The screen displayed pop-ups, and the production line stopped for more than six hours. The core security requirements for these endpoints are: system stability without downtime, strict control of peripheral entry points, patch distribution according to production line rhythm, and network communication whitelist control.
Three types of endpoints, three security logics, yet they have long been covered by the same management tool and the same policy system. Office endpoints pursue flexibility and efficiency, R&D endpoints pursue data protection, and industrial control endpoints pursue stability and reliability—when these conflicting requirements are forcibly crammed into the same management framework, the security system experiences systemic failure.
II. Three Structural Fractures in Automotive Manufacturing Endpoint Security Management
Endpoint security management in the automotive manufacturing industry faces three structural fractures.
The first fracture: Uncontrolled data flow between the R&D network and the office network. Design drawings on R&D endpoints need to be delivered to the product team on the office network for review, sent to suppliers for collaborative development, and submitted to the compliance department for archiving. In the absence of a unified cross-network channel, engineers copy files to USB drives, send them through personal email, or upload them to personal cloud drives—these behaviors bypass all security controls and form an unmonitored “dark channel” outside the isolation system. A smart connected vehicle company once experienced an incident where core vehicle model design drawings were leaked through USB drives and instant messaging tools, and the IT department could not trace the source of the leak.
The second fracture: Fragmented security management of office endpoints. Large automotive companies typically deploy multiple types of security products such as admission control, desktop management, DLP, Zero Trust, and antivirus. Installing multiple security management clients on a single endpoint leads to high resource consumption, low performance efficiency, and even frequent blue screens. The management backends of various security products are independent of one another, policies cannot be uniformly distributed, data cannot be centrally analyzed, and the O&M burden continues to increase. The more security capabilities are stacked, the harder endpoints become to manage.
The third fracture: The “management vacuum” of industrial control endpoints. Industrial control endpoints run old operating systems, patches have been stuck for years, peripheral ports are completely open, and software installation lacks control. The management logic of industrial control hosts is completely opposite to that of office computers: office computers emphasize updating at any time, while production line hosts emphasize not moving anything carelessly. But most enterprise security solutions are designed for office endpoints, and industrial control endpoints are often “managed incidentally”—policies that are too loose fail to provide protection, while policies that are too strict may affect production line operation.
III. Ping64’s Solution Approach: One Platform, Three Sets of Policies, Unified Management
The core breakthrough of the Ping64 integrated office security platform is: it does not use the same set of policies to cover all endpoints, but configures differentiated security policies for different types of endpoints on a unified platform, while maintaining linkage between policies and correlation between data.
The concrete implementation of this approach in the automotive manufacturing industry is reflected in the collaboration of capabilities at three levels.
IV. Office Endpoint Defense Line: From “Multi-Client Internal Friction” to “Integrated Governance”
The security management of office endpoints must first solve the problem of “multi-client internal friction.” Ping64 integrates capabilities such as admission control, software management, vulnerability management, data loss prevention, and endpoint detection and response into the same client. Employees only need to install one agent to obtain complete endpoint protection capabilities. The unified management console allows administrators to configure all policies in one place, with one configuration taking effect across the entire network, avoiding policy conflicts and coverage blind spots across multiple systems.
At the level of software compliance management, Ping64 centers on the three goals of “visible, controllable, and manageable,” providing full-process governance of software from installation and use to external risks. The system automatically performs a unified inventory of software across all endpoints, covering key data such as software name, version information, installation path, and vendor source, allowing administrators to quickly understand what software the enterprise is actually using and on which endpoints it is distributed. Once software installation or uninstallation occurs on an endpoint, the system automatically records it and generates an alert, enabling IT personnel to discover at the first opportunity that new software has entered the enterprise environment or that critical software has been illegally uninstalled.
For professional applications such as CAD, 3D modeling tools, and simulation software that are widely used in automotive manufacturing enterprises, Ping64 achieves fine-grained management through a blacklist and whitelist mechanism. Enterprises can include authorized software in the whitelist to ensure employees can use it normally in specified environments, and include high-risk or non-compliant software in the blacklist to restrict its execution. For software that has genuine business needs but is not on the whitelist, employees can initiate an installation request through the system. After administrator review, installation permissions are opened within a specified period, which both avoids the risks brought by arbitrary installation and retains business flexibility.
V. R&D Endpoint Defense Line: Making Core Assets “Cannot Be Taken Away, Cannot Be Opened, Traceable”
The core objective of security protection for R&D endpoints is to protect the enterprise’s core intellectual property. R&D assets of automotive manufacturing enterprises include vehicle design drawings, autonomous driving source code, battery management system parameters, and simulation verification data. The value of these files is extremely high, but they need to be frequently accessed, edited, and circulated in daily R&D.
Ping64’s approach is to determine protection attributes at the moment of file creation. When a design drawing is created or saved in a CAD tool, the content identification engine automatically determines its sensitivity level and triggers corresponding protection actions—encryption, watermarking, marking with a tracing identifier, and inclusion in specific control policies. This process does not require engineers to manually select classification levels, nor does it require administrators to review files one by one.
On the endpoint side, transparent document encryption sinks encryption and decryption logic down to the operating system kernel layer. When authorized processes read or write specified file types, encryption and decryption are completed automatically, while unauthorized processes always receive ciphertext. Once an encrypted file leaves the enterprise’s controlled environment—copied to a USB drive, uploaded to a personal cloud drive, or sent via a chat tool—it cannot be opened or will appear as garbled text. Ping64 supports deep compatibility with mainstream CAD, CAE, and EDA tools and will not cause design tool lag or file corruption due to encryption.
For outbound behavior on R&D endpoints, Ping64 deeply links the approval process with content identification, endpoint status, and recipient identity. When an engineer initiates a file outbound request, the system automatically performs a content compliance check, identifies the file’s sensitivity level, and triggers the corresponding approval process based on the enterprise’s preset policies. After approval, the system automatically processes the outbound file: adding tracing watermarks, setting validity periods, limiting the number of openings, and embedding tracing identifiers. When an outbound file is leaked, the enterprise can quickly locate the source of the leak and the responsible party through watermark information.
VI. Industrial Control Endpoint Defense Line: Differentiated Control with Stability as Priority
The core principle of security management for industrial control endpoints is “not affecting production line operation.” Ping64’s design logic in industrial control endpoint scenarios is completely different from that of office endpoints.
- Peripheral port control is the first gateway. External maintenance, equipment vendor debugging, and team leaders copying programs—USB drives are an unavoidable channel and the main entry point for virus intrusion. Ping64’s approach is: only registered USB drives are recognized, and private drives have no response when inserted; plug-in records and file operation records are retained together, making it possible to trace which drive, when, and what was copied. On-site operation consoles are set to read-only, programs in USB drives can be read into the machine, but files in the machine cannot be copied out. Bluetooth, wireless network cards, optical drives, serial ports, and burning interfaces are brought under unified control. With one less writable entry point, the probability of line stoppage is reduced by one point.
- System privilege control is the second gateway. Registry, Group Policy, Device Manager, Task Manager, Control Panel, and Safe Mode are disabled according to policies; IP addresses and computer names are not allowed to be modified arbitrarily. If an industrial control computer’s IP is changed, the host computer cannot connect. Installing new software is prohibited, and only software within the enterprise software library or whitelisted installation packages are allowed; blacklists and whitelists are set for installed software, and violating processes trigger alerts when they run.
- Patch management is executed according to production line rhythm. For production line hosts, patching is not a question of whether to patch, but when to patch. Ping64 supports unified patch statistics and distribution, with timing selected during production line stoppage windows or idle periods. Restarting the entire factory at the same time is unrealistic for production lines.
- Network communication whitelist control. Privately connecting mobile hotspots, connecting to external WiFi, and dual network card switching are identified. After triggering an alert, network disconnection and screen locking can be linked. Industrial control endpoints are only allowed to communicate with specified host computers, databases, and MES systems, and all other network requests are intercepted.
VII. Advantages of the Integrated Platform: From “Three Systems” to “One Platform”
Integrating the security management of office endpoints, R&D endpoints, and industrial control endpoints on the same platform provides advantages not only at the functional level but also at the governance logic level.
1. Coexistence of differentiated and unified policies. The security policies for the three types of endpoints are different—office endpoints focus on software compliance and peripheral control, R&D endpoints focus on data encryption and outbound approval, and industrial control endpoints focus on system stability and network whitelists. But these policies are centrally configured in the Ping64 unified policy center, and enterprises can flexibly combine policies according to endpoint type, department, and position, with one configuration taking effect across the entire network. The differentiation of policies satisfies the security needs of different scenarios, and the unified management of policies avoids policy conflicts and coverage blind spots across multiple systems.
2. Natural data correlation. In a multi-system architecture, security logs of office endpoints, outbound records of R&D endpoints, and operation logs of industrial control endpoints are stored in different systems, and post-event tracing requires manual reconstruction. Ping64’s security modules run on the same data foundation. Endpoint operation logs, file flow records, outbound approval records, screen recordings, and screenshot records share the same file identifier and user identifier at the moment they are generated, and correlation is natural, real-time, and accurate.
3. Automated linkage of response. When a security module discovers a risk, it can immediately invoke other modules to execute response actions. For example, when ransomware characteristics are detected on an industrial control endpoint, the system automatically blocks the endpoint’s network communication, captures a process snapshot, and notifies administrators. The entire process requires no manual intervention and links with the firewall to form an automated closed loop of “detection—assessment—response—recovery.”
4. Efficient generation of compliance evidence. When facing compliance audits such as TISAX, ISO 27001, and MLPS assessments, enterprises need to provide complete endpoint security records and incident handling reports. Ping64’s unified audit center supports generating standardized reports according to compliance requirements. Endpoint behavior audits, file outbound records, and approval process logs are continuously generated and archived on the unified platform, and compliance evidence collection no longer depends on centralized organization after an incident occurs.
VIII. From “Passive Firefighting” to “Proactive Closed Loop”
Endpoint security management in the automotive manufacturing industry is moving from “passive firefighting” to “proactive closed loop.” The path to this transformation is not to add more security tools, but to integrate the security capabilities of different types of endpoints on the same platform, allowing policies to be executed differentially within a unified framework, data to be naturally correlated on a unified foundation, and responses to flow automatically within a unified engine.
What the Ping64 integrated office security platform provides for the automotive manufacturing industry is precisely such a governance logic: unified endpoint management to achieve network-wide visibility of endpoint assets, differentiated policies to meet the different security needs of office, R&D, and industrial control endpoints, and platform-based linkage to build a complete security closed loop from endpoint to outbound, from usage to auditing.
In an era where intelligent connected vehicles are rapidly evolving, supply chain collaboration is increasingly globalized, and international security standards such as TISAX continue to upgrade, endpoint security management is no longer a problem that can be remedied after the fact. Making every endpoint—whether an office PC, an R&D workstation, or a production line industrial control computer—operate under a unified security framework may be the most pragmatic cornerstone of digital transformation in the automotive manufacturing industry.
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