Defend · Device protection
CAD workstations
A CAD workstation runs Revit, AutoCAD or iTWO on large models against a deadline. It gets the same protection as every other device, applied so the model keeps opening at full speed.
Protected like every device. Tuned so the model stays fast.
A workstation that renders a model is doing the most expensive work in the practice, and a protection setting that scans a large model file on every save can turn a submission evening into a support marathon. The answer is not less protection. It is protection that knows what a CAD workstation does: which folders hold project files, which processes are the modelling tools, where the models live while someone works on them. Every deviation from the firm’s baseline is an exception decided on purpose by your TechPilot, written down with its reason, and reviewed, so the workstation is as protected as a laptop and nobody has to switch anything off on deadline day.
What we set
The baseline, with the exceptions a workstation needs, on record.
The workstation starts from the same baseline as every laptop. What differs is decided deliberately, written down and reviewed, never adjusted on the machine itself.
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Exclusions by name
The project folders, the cache folders and the processes of Revit, AutoCAD, iTWO and Bluebeam are excluded from on-access scanning where they would slow a model down. Each exclusion is listed with its reason, and scanned on a schedule instead, when nobody is modelling.
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No standing admin rights
CAD software often asks for admin rights to install a plug-in or a driver. Instead of giving the user admin rights for good, installations run through our tested scripts, so the user gets the plug-in and the attacker doesn’t get the rights. A workstation with a local admin that stays is a finding, not a convenience.
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Encrypted like any laptop
A workstation under a desk is stolen less often than a laptop, but it holds more. Its disks are encrypted, the recovery key is in the vault, and the encryption state is reported like every other device’s, so a machine that leaves the office or goes back to the leasing company leaves without the models on it.
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Local project data, covered
Large models are often worked on locally for speed. Local project data goes back to the project share on a schedule, so a stolen or failed workstation costs a machine, not a week of modelling, and the data is on the backup with everything else.
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Reviewed before and after a submission
Exceptions are reviewed on a date, and the list is checked when a project ends: an exclusion added for one project doesn’t quietly stay for the next three.
On record
On record for the workstations.
- Every workstation with its protection and its encryption state
- The exceptions to the baseline, each with its reason, owner and review date
- Who holds admin rights on a workstation, and why
- The scan schedule for the excluded folders
What usually goes wrong on workstations.
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Protection switched off for the deadline
The model crawls, the submission is tonight, so the protection is switched off on the workstation and never switched on again. The machine with the firm’s most valuable files is the one with no protection.
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The exception that covers everything
To stop the complaints, the whole drive is excluded from scanning. The workstation is now a laptop with no protection and a faster processor.
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Everyone an admin
Because a plug-in once needed admin rights, every modeller has them. One convincing mail, and the attacker has them too.
Questions we get
Will the protection slow Revit or iTWO down?
Not when the exclusions are set for the folders and processes the tools use, which is the point of this page. Where a scan would slow a model down, it runs on a schedule instead. If a workstation still crawls, it is a fault to fix, not a reason to switch anything off.
Can our modellers install plug-ins themselves?
Through us: a plug-in a project needs is packaged once and installed by a tested script on every workstation that needs it, without giving anyone admin rights. For deep application questions we work with the vendor directly.
What about the workstations in the site office?
The same baseline, the same exceptions, the same encryption: a workstation in a site container is managed and protected like one in the office, and its project data goes back to the same share.
Start
What is switched off on your workstations today?
In a first call we go through your workstations, which tools they run, which exceptions they carry today and why, and what a baseline with its exceptions on record would change.
- No first level
- No surprises
- Pilot before you buy