The New IP Reality: Why Old Security Models Are Breaking
Innovation is the core currency of the modern economy. For the semiconductor industry, it’s everything. Yet, that innovation is more exposed than ever. Modern chip development depends on the seamless exchange of design assets, process parameters, and test data across a vast global network. From fabless design houses and foundries to packaging providers and field service partners, valuable intellectual property (IP) moves continuously between internal teams and external collaborators.
This challenge, while acute in semiconductors, is not unique. Industries from software development to aerospace and pharmaceuticals face the same dilemma: how to foster rapid, global collaboration without losing control of their most valuable digital assets.
Traditional assumptions about IP protection, like securing the network or locking down devices, no longer suffice. The reality of today’s hyperconnected ecosystem is that data moves freely, creating its own paths. Companies must now rethink how they protect IP not only from external attackers, but also from accidental exposure, insider risk, and unauthorized use.
Mapping Your Risks: IP Exposure in the Semiconductor Lifecycle
Every stage in the chip lifecycle involves sharing sensitive IP, and each stage introduces risk. This exposure often happens beyond the scope of centralized IT control.
Design and Engineering: Where Value is Created and Risk Begins
Design and engineering teams generate the most sensitive assets: CAD files, netlists, simulation results, and bills of materials (BOMs). These files are routinely shared across internal departments, contractors, and offshore design centers as part of collaborative chip development workflows.
Once in circulation, these assets are easily duplicated or forwarded without restriction, often leaving no active alerts or audit trail. Unauthorized redistribution, improper handling, or even accidental oversharing can lead to irreversible leaks of core IP before a chip ever reaches production.
The Human Factor: When Productivity Bypasses Policy
A fundamental truth of security is that knowledge workers will do what it takes to get their work done. Faced with tight deadlines, engineers and designers will understandably prioritize project completion, often using the most convenient methods—personal cloud drives, insecure email—to share files, bypassing corporate security controls they see as cumbersome. An effective security strategy must enable productivity, not hinder it, or users will inevitably find a way around it.
Key risks in the design phase include:
- Unrestricted sharing on unmanaged platforms: Files sent via unapproved channels, like personal email or cloud drives, make it extremely challenging to monitor or control where sensitive data goes.
- Lack of file-level encryption or dynamic permissions: Most design files are unprotected once downloaded or copied. Without security embedded in the file itself, anyone with access can open, edit, or redistribute the content.
- Inability to track, expire, or revoke access after distribution: Once a file is shared, there’s typically no way to monitor its use or remotely restrict access, a major risk when working with external contractors or offshore teams.
- Exposure to insider threats: Internal users often have wide, unaudited access to valuable IP. In cases of employee turnover or conflict, these assets can be intentionally exfiltrated.
Supply and Manufacturing Partners: A Web of Shared Trust
A fundamental truth of security is that knowledge workers will do what it takes to get their work done. Faced with tight deadlines, engineers and designers will understandably prioritize project completion, often using the most convenient methods—personal cloud drives, insecure email—to share files, bypassing corporate security controls they see as cumbersome. An effective security strategy must enable productivity, not hinder it, or users will inevitably find a way around it.
Key risks in the design phase include:
- Unrestricted sharing on unmanaged platforms: Files sent via unapproved channels, like personal email or cloud drives, make it extremely challenging to monitor or control where sensitive data goes.
- Lack of file-level encryption or dynamic permissions: Most design files are unprotected once downloaded or copied. Without security embedded in the file itself, anyone with access can open, edit, or redistribute the content.
- Inability to track, expire, or revoke access after distribution: Once a file is shared, there’s typically no way to monitor its use or remotely restrict access, a major risk when working with external contractors or offshore teams.
- Exposure to insider threats: Internal users often have wide, unaudited access to valuable IP. In cases of employee turnover or conflict, these assets can be intentionally exfiltrated.
