Protecting and Monetising Trade Secrets

Global manufacturing is in a state of flux. According to reports, July witnessed China’s exports suffering their biggest decline in recent years, with the value of exports – measured in US dollars – falling 14.5% last month in comparison to the equivalent statistic 12 months ago.

Statistics like these reflect the effects of ongoing geopolitical tensions. When combined with factors including worldwide labour shortages and rising costs, those tensions are fuelling a shift towards nearshoring and onshoring production. The trends of digital and ‘on-demand’ manufacturing continue to grow as part of the effort to de-risk supply chains and safeguard manufacturing for the future.

Technologies like Additive Manufacturing are well-positioned to support this evolution, helping to shorten or even bypass strained and broken supply chains. Connected platforms are playing a crucial role in powering digital warehouses and inventories. In addition, Additive Manufacturing is supporting the emerging trend of parts-on-demand platforms, which provide new opportunities for manufacturers to thrive by monetising their Intellectual Property straight from their factory floors.

However, none of these advances are viable without robust security standards and measures in place. The Intellectual Property and data generated from moving physical inventories to the cloud must be secure and protected before they can be monetised, and notably so for high performance and industrial parts.

Risks of digitisation

When it comes to digitisation, education plays a key role in battling misconceptions. The first step towards ensuring a secure and connected environment is to understand the actual and perceived risks it presents. These include Intellectual Property theft, scalability and quality control.

For digitisation, the threat of Intellectual Property theft is the largest perceived risk and generally the one that holds most people back, due in no small measure to its power for diminishing innovation and compromising economic advantages. Starting with safe options like digitising non-sensitive files is a good way for manufacturers to dip their toe in the water and see what it’s like.

There’s also a perceived risk around a lack of scalability when it comes to compiling digital inventories. As is the case with any innovation, it’s very much the case that work, investment and training will be required to build the infrastructure and ensure that it’s up-and-running. While it may seem a daunting prospect, the industry is working hard to overcome this perception by sharing success stories and highlighting the benefits digitisation can realise.

Companies need full confidence in every part they print from their digital inventory. Earning ISO 9001 certification in quality management illustrates a commitment to quality. In addition, simulation and inspection technologies provide validation and afford engineers confidence that the parts they print will behave as they should do every time they print them.

Security Best Practice

Security and access controls are essential in mitigating the risks outlined, as well as meeting stringent customer and stakeholder demands.

There are several examples of parameters that should be considered by the Additive Manufacturing and wider manufacturing industry when it comes to building safe and secure connected digital inventories and marketplaces and adopting smart manufacturing practices.

First of all, protecting your personally identifiable information, Intellectual Property and parts data is essential. This requires vigorous processes to be in place. Data files need to be encrypted throughout their entire journey, from being sent to machines right through to their storage in the cloud.

Earning certification such as ISO 270001 shows that you’ve implemented an Information Security Management System for how your organisation transacts its business. In turn, this will reduce vulnerability to attacks.

Insider threats are real and growing. According to cyber security solutions specialist Gurucul’s Insider Threat Report 2023, 74% of organisations surveyed suggested that insider attacks have become more frequent. To combat insider – and outside – threats, Single Sign-On authentication and Role-Based Access Controls need to be in place. These measures help to ensure you know who’s logging in and limits what people can see.

Taken together, Single Sign-On authentication and Role-Based Access Controls lock down sensitive information for the eyes only of those who’ve been explicitly granted those rights.

In order to limit exposure, technologies including digital warehouses and the aforementioned parts-on-demand platforms should also be tightly controlled and shared only with trusted partners.

Consider hiring third party experts to perform penetration testing. Their subsequent vulnerability reports will identify any weak spots to help strengthen security and mitigate risks. This allows for unbiased testing and threat detection to expose any vulnerabilities.

Further, it’s Best Practice to provide automated tools and status updates for customers to keep them informed.

Managing risk, not limiting innovation

The manufacturing industry needs to be continually evaluating high-risk areas and looking at how we can mitigate them. In addition to the examples listed, feedback from security questionnaires required for customer RFPs can also be used to shape future security Best Practice.

When it comes to onboarding new customers, we’ve learned that discussions around security need to be covered early on in the process. Regular and clear communication across teams, coupled with comprehensive training and support documentation, can help to avoid any delays during implementation.

The opportunities to monetise Intellectual Property and data through digital manufacturing further recognise the value they can bring. While they need to be secure and protected, their benefits will be left untapped if a printer is left in its box due to IT security bottlenecks. According to the stories we’re often told, this is till happening.

Security will continue to remain essential to the success of digital and ‘on-demand’ manufacturing, but equally it’s important to remember that it doesn’t need to halt its progression.

Doug Kenik is Director of Software Product Management and Nate Washor is Software and Security Products Manager at Markforged (www.markforged.com)