In the security development of many semiconductor enterprises, attention is often focused on network perimeter protection, external attack defense, and server permission control, while an equally critical risk source is overlooked — terminal behavior itself.
In real R&D and office scenarios, core assets such as chip design files, layout data, PDKs, process parameters, IP cores, and simulation verification results are widely distributed across the terminal devices of R&D personnel. Employees may silently leak these core files through USB copying, personal cloud drive synchronization, instant messaging, printing, or photographing screens with mobile phones. What is more challenging is that many of these behaviors occur within normal office activities. Without systematic control measures, enterprises often only realize the problem after a leak has occurred.
So, how can enterprises prevent core file leakage without affecting semiconductor R&D efficiency or compromising the EDA tool experience? Let us begin with a typical scenario in a chip design company.
Scenario: Hidden Dangers of Core File Leakage in the R&D Center of a Chip Design Company
In a company focused on power management chip design, the R&D center handles a large volume of sensitive data on a daily basis: GDSII/OASIS layout files, SPICE netlists, RTL code, simulation verification data, PDK suites, process variation data, and design documents exchanged with wafer fabs and packaging and testing houses.
As the project entered the critical tape-out stage, problems gradually surfaced. Some engineers copied layout files to personal USB drives to continue debugging at home. Some employees sent design screenshots to external partners via WeChat, QQ, and other tools. Others uploaded files to personal cloud drives for cross-device access. During an internal inspection, the security department discovered that the GDSII file of a core IP could be opened directly on an external computer, with no way to trace who took it out of the company or when.
What worried management even more was that USB ports on R&D terminals were completely open, printing activities were not logged, screen photography could not be controlled, and data transfers by employees before resignation were not audited. This meant that even if core files were already subject to permission management on the server side, a significant “management vacuum” remained on the terminal side.
As a result, the company began to introduce the Ping64 Office Integrated Security Platform to build a closed-loop anti-leakage system around the full lifecycle of semiconductor core files — from terminal to external transmission, and from usage to auditing.
How Ping64 Builds a Core File Anti-Leakage System for the Semiconductor Industry
Ping64 does not simply encrypt files or block peripherals. Instead, it manages the entire lifecycle of core files — creation, storage, usage, and external transmission — based on four dimensions: encryption, control, auditing, and traceability. At the same time, by leveraging the advantages of an integrated platform, it coordinates multiple security capabilities under unified policies, avoiding the management fragmentation and protection gaps caused by stacking multiple products.
1. Transparent Encryption of Core Files: Making Data “Impossible to Take Away and Impossible to Open”
For semiconductor enterprises, files such as GDSII, OASIS, SPICE, RTL, and PDK are core assets. Ping64 uses transparent file encryption technology to automatically encrypt specified file types. The encryption process is completely transparent to end users and EDA tools, and does not affect normal opening, editing, or saving operations.
Once encrypted files leave the controlled enterprise environment — for example, by being copied to a USB drive, uploaded to a personal cloud drive, or sent through chat tools — they cannot be opened or appear as garbled text. This approach fundamentally ensures that even if core files are leaked, they will not cause substantial data breaches.
At the same time, Ping64 supports deep compatibility with mainstream EDA tools, ensuring that encryption does not cause layout tools to lag, simulation processes to be interrupted, or files to be corrupted, so that R&D efficiency is not affected.
2. Fine-Grained Control of Peripheral Ports: Blocking Physical Leakage Channels
Many leakage incidents in semiconductor enterprises do not come from external attacks, but from data being taken out through physical channels such as USB storage, external hard drives, and mobile phone data cables. Ping64 supports fine-grained control of terminal USB ports, optical drives, Bluetooth, infrared, serial ports, and other peripherals.
Administrators can set USB ports to read-only, disabled, or allow only certified encrypted USB drives based on job requirements. For printers, they can restrict print content, set print watermarks, and record print logs. For non-essential interfaces such as Bluetooth and infrared, they can be disabled by default to physically cut off data outflow paths.
This control is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach, but is flexibly configured based on roles and scenarios, ensuring both the convenience of necessary peripheral use for R&D personnel and the maximum reduction of physical leakage risks.
3. Application-Level Network Control: Blocking Unauthorized External Transmission Channels
Personal cloud drives, instant messaging tools, and personal email are high-risk channels for file transmission. Ping64 can identify and control applications running on terminals, intercepting or auditing file transmission behaviors.
For example, it can prohibit employees from sending design files through unauthorized channels such as WeChat, QQ, or personal cloud drives; restrict the external sending of email attachments, allowing only the use of enterprise email with approval; and identify browser upload behaviors, blocking suspicious file uploads.
Through application-level network control, Ping64 ensures that core files can only flow within enterprise-controlled channels. Compliant external transmission has a defined path, while unauthorized transmission is blocked, and the entire process is traceable.
4. Screen Watermarks and Photography Deterrence: Preventing Secondary Leakage
In R&D scenarios, employees can also take core information away by photographing screens with mobile phones or taking screenshots. Ping64 supports screen watermark functionality, displaying watermarks containing employee name, employee ID, department, time, and other information on terminal screens. The transparency, position, and density of the watermark can all be customized.
Once a leak occurs through photography, the watermark information can quickly locate the source of the leak. At the same time, Ping64 can control screenshot behaviors, restricting screenshot operations or automatically adding watermarks to captured content. It can also identify and block potentially risky behaviors such as remote desktop access and screen recording software.
This combination of deterrence and traceability effectively reduces the possibility of leakage through visual channels and internalizes security awareness into employees’ conscious behavior.
5. File Outbound Approval and Flow Control: Providing a Path for Compliant External Transmission
When semiconductor enterprises collaborate with external partners such as wafer fabs, packaging and testing houses, EDA vendors, and customers, it is inevitable that some design data will need to be sent externally. Ping64 provides a file outbound approval process. When employees need to send files externally, they can initiate a request through the system, explaining the reason for sending, the recipient, and the scope of files.
After the administrator approves the request, the system can decrypt and send the files, automatically recording the content of the sent files, recipient, time, and purpose. For frequent or abnormal outbound behaviors, the system triggers alerts to remind administrators to pay attention.
Through approval and flow control, Ping64 ensures both the normal progress of business collaboration and that every outbound transmission is authorized and traceable, avoiding the chaotic situation of “sending first and reporting later.”
6. Behavior Auditing and File Operation Traceability: Enabling Post-Incident Investigation
Prevention before an incident and control during an incident are important, but post-incident auditing is equally indispensable. Ping64 can conduct comprehensive audits of file operation behaviors on terminals, including opening, modifying, copying, moving, deleting, renaming, sending externally, printing, and other actions, recording operation time, operator, operation path, and other detailed information.
For core files, separate key audit policies can be set. Once abnormal operations occur (such as access during non-working hours, large-scale copying, batch deletion, etc.), the system sends real-time alerts and records complete logs. When a leakage incident occurs, administrators can quickly retrieve the operation records of relevant files, accurately locate the leaker, and provide strong evidence for accountability.
This full-lifecycle auditing capability makes terminal behavior no longer “invisible” but under continuous monitoring, forming a powerful deterrent.
7. Resignation Risk Warning and Data Transfer Control
Talent mobility is frequent in the semiconductor industry, and data transfer before and after employee resignation is a high-risk period for leakage. Ping64 can integrate with HR systems or use resignation lists set by administrators to conduct focused monitoring of employees about to leave.
The system automatically pays attention to file operation behaviors on their terminals, sending real-time alerts for high-risk actions such as batch copying, external transmission, and printing. It can even restrict their use of external transmission channels such as USB storage and personal cloud drives. At the same time, administrators can remotely lock terminals, forcibly back up data, and erase sensitive files to ensure that data is neither taken away nor destroyed when employees leave.
This dedicated control for resignation scenarios fills the gap in traditional security solutions during personnel changes, ensuring that enterprise core assets remain secure even amid workforce turnover.
Integrated Platform Advantages: From Single-Point Protection to Global Linkage
The core value of the Ping64 Office Integrated Security Platform lies not only in the completeness of the individual functions above, but also in the fact that they are unified under one platform, achieving unified policies, data connectivity, and module linkage.
In the semiconductor industry, needs such as terminal security, data leakage prevention, behavior auditing, peripheral control, and application control often require multiple products to meet. However, stacking multiple products brings problems such as management complexity, policy conflicts, and data silos. Through its integrated architecture, Ping64 consolidates capabilities such as encryption, control, auditing, approval, and alerting into a single console. Administrators can complete global policy configuration, real-time monitoring, event tracing, and report analysis all within one interface.
These integrated advantages mean:
- Unified policies: Policies for encryption, outbound transmission, peripherals, and networks can be configured uniformly based on the same personnel, department, or role, avoiding policy conflicts.
- Data linkage: Data such as file operation logs, outbound records, and alert events are shared within the platform, allowing administrators to conduct correlation analysis from any dimension.
- Efficient operations: There is no need to deploy multiple systems or maintain multiple clients, reducing terminal resource consumption and operational costs.
- Rapid response: Once a leakage incident occurs, the entire process of location, evidence collection, and disposal can be completed within a single system, shortening response time.
From “Passive Response” to “Active Defense”
The implementation of Ping64 transforms semiconductor enterprises’ core files from “terminals running unprotected” to “controlled circulation,” from “post-incident accountability” to “pre-incident blocking,” and from “single-point protection” to “global linkage.”
More importantly, this management approach does not increase the burden on R&D personnel. Transparent encryption is imperceptible in daily operations, the outbound approval process is clear and smooth, and peripheral control is flexibly configured based on roles, making compliant pathways the default choice and naturally reducing violations.
Through the Ping64 Office Integrated Security Platform, semiconductor enterprises can achieve comprehensive visibility, control, and traceability of core files without affecting R&D efficiency, making data security truly manageable and preventable, and building a solid terminal defense line for their core technological assets.
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