Boss, let’s get straight to the point. For those engaged in design and R&D, CAD drawings are the lifeblood of the enterprise. The core design that has been worked hard for months or even years is copied by an employee on a USB flash drive, sent out by an email, or taken directly to a competitor. This feels worse than losing one's life. I've been in this business for decades and I'm used to this kind of thing. Leaking of secret drawings is often not a technical problem, but a management loophole, or a human problem. Today, let’s not talk nonsense, but let’s talk about one thing: how to really understand CAD drawings.

How to encrypt CAD drawings? These 4 methods are designed to cure all kinds of "streaking on drawings"”

1. Deploy the Insight Eye MIT system

Don't get me started on those fancy "confidentiality agreements." When it comes time to take action, a piece of paper can't stop real money. For bosses who are so afraid that their drawings will be leaked that they can’t sleep, I have only one honest statement: Get the system, and get the right system. Insight Eye MIT System He is the player I have seen in recent years who combines "coercion" and "transparency" the most. He specializes in treating the difficult and complicated problem of leaking corporate core drawings. Let me break it down for you:

1. The drawing is transparent and encrypted, you won’t feel it exists at all
   This is the highest level of encryption. When employees open CAD drawings on their computers, the operations are exactly the same as before, and the speed is not slow at all. But once he wants to copy this picture to a USB flash drive, send it to WeChat, or upload it to a private network disk, sorry, the file will be garbled or cannot be opened directly. It enforces encryption at the bottom of the system. You can't control the employees' intentions to get the drawings, but the system can control the intentions of the drawings. The drawings don’t leave the factory, so I don’t feel comfortable using them. ； Once the drawing leaves the factory, it is a piece of waste paper.

2. Refined permissions, you decide who reads, who changes, and who can print
   In a project team, some people only need to see pictures, some need to modify them, and some people need to convert them into PDFs and send them to customers. Insight Eye MIT can severely block permissions. You can be precise: Lao Wang can only see this assembly drawing but cannot change it, Xiao Li can change it but cannot print it, and Xiao Zhang wants to take a screenshot? There are no doors. To management, what is this called? This is called turning "rule by man" into "rule by law" and minimizing the risk of leaks.

3. Outgoing documents can also be "retracted and retracted freely"”
   This is the most troublesome scenario for bosses: the drawings must be sent to suppliers or customers, and once they are sent out, they will be out of control. Insight from MIT Outbound control The function allows the sent drawings to have their own "tightening spell". You can set an opening password, a usage period, prohibit secondary modifications, and even restrict it to only being opened on a certain computer. The other party has expired and you want to open it again? There are no doors. This is called building "trust" on controllable rules, rather than betting on the other party's character.

4. Full-process screen audit, allowing people who want to reach out to weigh it
   Preventing leaks cannot rely solely on blocking. The system will record all operations involving drawings, who opened which file when, whether they tried to take a screenshot, whether they copied it elsewhere, and the entire process will be recorded to leave traces. This "Sword of Damocles" hanging there is a powerful deterrent to the insiders. If something really happened, the chain of evidence is clear. Who did it and how it was done can be found accurately.

5. U disk, peripherals, network disk, manage all "exits"”
   When drawings are leaked, 90% of them slip out through these small openings. Insight MIT can disable USB storage devices with one click, allowing only your certified encrypted USB drives to be used. Personal network disks and chat software file transfers are all on the control list. Don’t be annoyed. When your core drawings are taken away by employees on USB flash drives worth tens of dollars and sold to competitors, you will know how valuable it is to control these "exports".

2. “Save as encrypted” that comes with CAD software”

This method is the simplest and most "tasteless". Software such as AutoCAD itself has the function of setting a password when saving. The operation is to finish drawing the picture, click "Save As" and enter the password in the options. But this thing, to be honest, is just too easy to steal. People who know a little bit can find a cracking tool online to crack the password in a few seconds. If an employee is determined to take him away, this is the same as having no idea. If the boss regards this as the main protection method, I can only say that your door is not locked.

3. Windows-based EFS encryption

The EFS (Encrypted File System) that comes with the Windows system sounds fancy, but it is actually a "one-time lock". It can encrypt specific folders and theoretically can only be opened by the current login account. But the problem is huge: first, if the employee’s computer breaks down and the system is reinstalled, and you don’t back up the certificate, the drawings will be completely useless. ； Second, this thing only protects against outsiders, not against one’s own people. If employees can open it on their own computers, they can copy, send emails, and copy USB drives without any obstacles. It's like putting a lock on the drawing and then inserting the key into the lock, which means there is no lock.

4. Purchase an independent hardware encryption lock

Some units will purchase hardware dongles and bind CAD drawings to the dongle. If employees want to see the drawings, they must plug in a specific USB flash drive. This method has certain effects on R&D departments with fixed workstations and fixed computers. But when it comes to business trips, working at home, and collaboration and sharing, you are blind. The dog is lost and I can’t see the drawings ； Even if the dog is taken away together, it can still be opened on the external network. It solves "access control", but it does not solve the leakage problem of "file content" itself. In terms of cost and flexibility, it is far less comprehensive than software systems.

In the final analysis, preventing leakage of drawings is a game between "management" and "human nature." Relying on employees' self-awareness and relying on a contract is unrealistic in this era. Really smart managers focus on building a system that "does not dare to leak, cannot leak, and can be traced if leaked". Insight Eye MIT System Such professional tools cost nothing but peace of mind. When all your core drawings run in a system with strong control, transparency, and traceability, you can truly sleep peacefully.

Source of this article: Enterprise Information Security Alliance, China Manufacturing Internal Control Research Institute
Lead writer: Chen Guodong
Editor in charge: Liu Jingyi
Last updated: March 25, 2026