Formula One teams invest millions in R&D, making their intellectual property (IP) extremely valuable. Last year’s dispute between Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin illustrated just how high the stakes can be. An upgraded Aston car looked strikingly similar to Red Bull’s design, sparking accusations of copying. The FIA investigation ultimately cleared Aston Martin of any wrongdoing, but Red Bull immediately launched its own probe. Team principal Christian Horner even called IP a team’s “lifeblood” and warned that unauthorized copying would be a “criminal offence”. For enterprise leaders, the lesson is clear: if championship racing teams can face an IP breach risk, so can any company.
Why IP Theft Matters for Businesses
Proprietary designs, formulas, and data drive competitive advantage. When trade secrets leak, a competitor can gain an unfair head start. One security expert notes that IP is “among the easiest assets to steal and the hardest to recover” once it leaves your network. Alarmingly, over 80% of corporate espionage cases involve internal or third-party IP theft. The financial and reputational fallout can be enormous: firms have lost market share or faced costly legal battles after industrial data leaks. In fact, IBM’s 2021 breach report found the average incident cost $4.24 million, highlighting how expensive even a single data breach can be. In short, companies cannot afford to wait for a breach to hit.
The Red Bull–Aston incident underscores this risk. Horner pointed out that Red Bull invests “millions and millions” in aerodynamics, so unauthorized copying would essentially be like giving away your R&D investment. Whether it’s a race car’s aero package or a patented technology design, valuable engineering data deserves strict guardrails. Without them, even a routine staff transfer or file share can trigger a leak.
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Insider Risk: Employees or contractors who have legitimate access to sensitive files might share or steal data, intentionally or by accident.
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Unsecured Collaboration: Using consumer cloud drives or unencrypted email for proprietary documents can leak files outside the intended circle.
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Lack of Visibility: Without detailed tracking, firms may not know who viewed a sensitive file or whether it was forwarded onward.
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Offboarding Gaps: When employees or vendors depart, stale accounts or local copies can leave critical documents accessible unless explicitly revoked.
CIOs and CISOs should assume that determined actors look for every gap. The F1 case proves that high-tech industries can’t rely on luck: they need deliberate security measures to stop IP breaches before they happen.
Protecting IP with Secure File Sharing and IRM
The key lesson is to embed protection with the data itself. Modern secure file sharing platforms and Information Rights Management (IRM) tools do exactly that. Instead of only locking down servers or emails, IRM attaches encryption and access policies directly to the document. In practical terms, IRM acts like a persistent guard that “travels with your document everywhere it goes”. You stay in control even if files are copied or emailed outside your company.
Key capabilities of IRM-based security include:
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Encryption & Access Control: Protected files are encrypted and require authentication to open. You define exactly who can view, edit, print or share each document. Any attempt by an unauthorized user leaves the file unreadable.
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Remote Revocation: You can disable a file’s access at any time, even after it’s been downloaded. If an employee leaves or a device is lost, the IRM system cuts off that person’s access. In effect, you have a “remote shred” button — the document simply stops opening for that user.
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Usage Tracking: Detailed audit logs record who has viewed or downloaded each file, when and where. This visibility uncovers suspicious activity early (for example, an odd download at midnight). It provides a complete trail so you know if a sensitive design was accessed by unauthorized eyes.
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Copy/Print Protection: Advanced controls can disable copy/paste, printing, or screen capture on a protected document. Dynamic watermarks can also be applied to every view (e.g. with user name and timestamp), deterring leaks even if someone attempts to photograph or screenshot the content.
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Secure Email Attachments: Instead of sending raw attachments, files are sent as protected links. For instance, 689Cloud’s SecureMail replaces an attachment with an encrypted link that checks the recipient’s identity. Only the intended person can open the file, and any downloaded copy “can be revoked later”.
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Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Requiring a second factor (such as a mobile app token) for file access adds another layer of defense. Even if passwords leak, an attacker still can’t open protected documents without the user’s second factor.
Together, these measures make leaked files essentially useless to anyone unauthorized. One IRM provider advertises that its system “keeps files encrypted and controlled even offline,” allowing instant remote revocation whenever needed. In practice, this means if your IP ever reaches the wrong hands, you can still pull it back.
Best Practices for Enterprise File Security
In addition to using IRM tools, companies should adopt a holistic approach:
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Encrypt Data Everywhere: Use strong encryption for data at rest and in transit. Even if a file is intercepted or stolen, encryption keeps its contents confidential.
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Legal and Policy Controls: Complement technology with legal safeguards. Enforce robust NDAs and clear IP ownership clauses for all employees and partners. Strong contracts discourage theft, and when combined with technical controls, they help ensure policies are actually enforced.
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Least Privilege & Offboarding: Grant users only the minimum access needed for their role, and revoke permissions promptly when roles change. Don’t allow departing employees to retain accounts, folder rights, or local copies of intellectual-property documents.
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Monitor and Audit: Collect logs of file accesses and set up alerts for unusual downloads or shares. Regularly review who accessed your most sensitive files and ensure that access aligns with business needs.
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Employee Training: Clearly communicate your data policies and train staff on secure sharing practices. Emphasize using only approved channels and avoiding personal emails or unmanaged cloud drives for corporate IP.
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Vendor/Partner Controls: Require contractors and partners to follow the same security rules. Share confidential files through secure portals or with IRM applied, rather than emailing them freely.
The Red Bull example shows you can’t rely on trust or secrecy alone. As Kiteworks advises, secure file transfer is “paramount” for protecting IP. By encrypting files, locking down permissions, and tracking usage, you make your data stay both accessible to the right people and sealed off from everyone else.
689Cloud Solutions: SecureDrive & SecureMail
At 689Cloud, we build these protections into our products. SecureDrive is a cloud file sharing platform with built-in IRM. It offers end-to-end encryption, copy protection, remote revoke, and granular permission controls so that only authorized users can open each document. Similarly, SecureMail secures email attachments by converting them into protected links. In both solutions, you set the policies and we enforce them – any downloaded copy remains under your control.
With these tools, organizations gain full visibility over the lifecycle of every document. You’ll know who viewed a confidential design, when and where, and you can immediately disable access if a project ends or personnel change. This level of post-download tracking and revocation is exactly what prevents internal leaks – it turns every file into a controllable asset. In short, 689Cloud’s IRM solutions ensure your most critical intellectual property doesn’t walk out the door.
Ready to protect your intellectual property? Contact 689Cloud or try our SecureDrive and SecureMail solutions today to secure your files and safeguard your company’s most valuable data.