How PCB Design Engineers Can Securely Share Design Files with External Teams

Security of intellectual property has become essential in today’s competitive global business environment. As companies create new products, it is crucial to maintain data privacy and reduce the risk of ideas being stolen by competitors to a minimum. That’s why project design files and manufacturing data are considered strictly confidential, as they can be used to recreate a product and endanger a company's competitive advantages. It is impossible, however, to just keep the files safe on a designer's hard drive. During product development, project data needs to be shared, whether within the company (other engineers, project management) or outside the company (PCB supplier, assembly provider, certification agencies, component distributors, outsourcing, or other collaborators).

If you are a design engineer, you are responsible for publishing your project design files properly. Whether you share schematics, PCB design, production files such as Gerbers, BOM or pick & place, 3D models, or any other documentation related to the project, you want this process to be quick, simple, and safe. Any problems with data exchange can cause undesired delays in product development and increase the possibility of data leaks. So the question is, how to share data while keeping high security standards? 

Share by Email

The first thing that comes to mind when someone asks to share a file is just sending it as an email attachment. It is a very common way of sharing files, and to this day, it is used both in small and large companies. It may be good enough for small, non-confidential documents and spreadsheets, but it has multiple disadvantages for project files. File size can exceed the attachment limit, forcing you to cut it into smaller pieces, which may not always be possible, and even if it is, splitting and sending multiple emails makes it easy to make a mistake.

As many companies refuse to accept large attachments and specific extensions, your email may be rejected or, for the same reason, end up in spam–and you won’t even receive any notification! There is no real control (you can’t really recall an email once sent), and security is really questionable, as any decent hacker may be able to access your or your recipient’s inbox. Additionally, in my experience, sifting through notes and emails to look for desired information is a waste of time. All in all, sending design files as email attachments isn’t a very good idea.

Use File-Hosting Services

Nowadays, the more popular way of sharing large file archives is through file hosting services such as Dropbox or Google Drive. They allow the user to better control access to shared files, eliminating many of the disadvantages of email. File sizes and extensions stop being a problem, and you can always recall access to shared files or delete the files when they are no longer needed. There are services with even more enhanced security with end-to-end encryption in file sharing, further reducing breach risk. Commercial file hosting services are generally considered safe and pretty easy to use.

What are possible issues to consider when using file hosting services? First, third-party services usually require paid subscriptions for large file hosting and end-to-end encryption, creating extra costs. Additionally, their functionality is typically limited beyond basic file-sharing. As they are used mostly for documents and spreadsheets, only these types of files can be viewed directly in a web browser. Design files will require not only downloading but also the intended software application in which they can be opened, making it troublesome for the recipient. Also, if you use another version control system (GIT, SVN) for your project, using hosting as the primary location can cause issues–personally, I encountered a lot of problems while using OneDrive and SVN simultaneously, and they weren’t easy to solve.

On the other hand, simply uploading a project to a hosting service creates its second separate unversioned copy. Whenever you make changes to the project in its original location, you have to always remember to also update its copy to keep the revision correct and consistent. Besides, it's never good to keep design files in multiple locations except for a dedicated backup. 

All things considered, using third-party services is definitely a better solution than sending an email attachment, but it still has some flaws. What are other possible ways to share design files with external teams?

Use Cloud-Based Solutions

Altium365 is a cloud-based solution provided by Altium for designers to easily and securely control their project repositories, templates, and libraries. It offers multiple features that accelerate and simplify product development from idea through prototype to production, and later to manage and maintain product lifecycle until end of life. Let’s discuss the key advantages of the Altium 365 platform.

There are many features directly related to file sharing, and, in my experience, they make a designer's job faster and easier. Project requirements and design reviews can be handled within Altium 365, which provides a history of changes, versioning, traceability, self-updating documents and dashboards, and comments and tasks. All project data is stored in one place with version control designed specifically for hardware development, and access to that data is controlled by workspace administrators. After the project is finished, the version-controlled release package is safely shared with manufacturers, and all relevant component data can be automatically synchronized with the cloud PLM system and later accessed or edited. Additionally, the management of the supply chain, thanks to integration with Octopart, SiliconExpert, Z2Data, and S&P Global and BOM Portal for streamlining orders, can also be handled using Altium 365.

A project can be shared between engineers within a workspace and developed simultaneously by multiple designers. Components, their footprints, and symbols are managed and stored within a common cloud library. Collaboration with mechanical engineers is made easier with Altium 365 MCAD CoDesigner, used for bidirectional sharing 3D models of PCBA without any exporting, converting or sending files. 

The key advantage of Altium 365 is full integration with Altium Designer. You can access the platform directly through Altium Designer, control rights to projects, and share files without changing software; just open the Explorer panel to enter the workspace.

Alternatively, you can use a web browser to access Web Viewer, available on any device connected to the internet, which is especially important for users with no access to proper software. You can open the project, view schematics and PCB, and see BOM and other documents in the same way as in Altium Designer. Access to each project is granted and controlled by authorized engineers. A list of users with whom the project was shared can be viewed at any time, and the rights of workspace members are assigned by administrators. It’s worth mentioning that the platform can also handle projects from other ECAD applications.

Altium 365 is suitable both for small teams of a few designers and large multi-industry companies due to it’s scalability. While the platform’s interface is intuitive and easy to use, at the same time it provides access to lots of features and advanced functionalities. All functions are thoroughly described in Altium 365 Documentation and available online. And here, you can read more about data sharing using Altium 365 workspace.

Security and Reliability

Altium 365 is developed with security in mind. Communication between any entity within the Altium 365 platform is permitted through secure connections using HTTPS protocol. Authentication is controlled by a time-limited login session with username and password. Organizational Security Package provides PCB security tools that include IP whitelisting, group and workspace management, and integration with existing single sign-on solutions for multi-factor authentication. User activity can be monitored, and organizational security policy compliance can be verified via SIEM Integration API. The physical layer is provided by Amazon Web Services, and data is encrypted using AWS KMS keys. 

For engineers in the United States, there is a dedicated version called GovCloud, operated exclusively by US Persons in the AWS GovCloud region. It helps organizations comply with US government security and compliance requirements and regulations such as ITAR and EAR. GovCloud provides enhanced data security controls to protect sensitive and regulated data from unauthorized access. Inbound traffic control limits workspace access and data sharing from non-US IP addresses. 

Altium monitors the platform's performance 24/7, quickly identifying slowdowns or performance issues and addressing the problem before it becomes noticeable. If the incident occurs, a dedicated team of engineers will react accordingly and keep the platform in working order. In case of any unlikely disaster, data present on the platform is routinely backed up and can be quickly recovered. 

Data is protected by Altium according to GDPR and CCPA regulations and internal General Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, all information held by Altium is confidential.

The answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding Altium 365 security can be found in the Trust Center.

Conclusion

Choosing a proper way to share design files can be hard when there are many possibilities. It may be tempting sometimes to just send a quick email with an attachment, but it should be avoided due to many security and reliability issues. Third-party file hosting services, on the other hand, are more reliable but create additional costs, have limited functionality, and can cause problems with revisions and versioning when working with other software.

The best solution if you’re using ECAD, especially Altium Designer, is the Altium 365 platform, a tool developed with a focus on hardware design. It provides multiple ways of safe and reliable file sharing, customized for different recipients–you can share project files and libraries with other electrical engineers, easily share design and 3D models with mechanical engineers, send data to PLM, or publish procurement packages for manufacturing.

Additionally, the platform allows for better control of the development process through requirements, comments, and design reviews and provides streamlined supply chain management and BOM optimization. With all data in one place, it’s easy to control access to design files and documentation, which can be shared in no time with a click of a button. Security standards of the platform are up to date with current international standards and continuously developed to stay compliant.