Secure Access to Software Solutions for Construction and Building

Descor is an Italian software house with over two decades of experience in facility management, CAD (Computer-Aided Design), BIM (Building Information Modelling), and architectural software solutions. With a dedicated team of more than 50 professionals spread across three cities in Italy, Descor acts as a system integrator and consulting partner, providing clients with tailored software, hardware, training, and support services. Their in-house flagship platform, Infocad, has been evolving for over 25 years, serving as a comprehensive tool for managing the full lifecycle of buildings. Currently, Descor supports more than 100 clients directly and over 60 via Infocad.

As Descor rapidly expanded its operations, managing passwords securely across thousands of client environments became increasingly complex. Their initial do-it-yourself (DIY) password management system, built in-house by the IT team, lacked essential features such as user role control, audit logs, and secure sharing mechanisms. These shortcomings posed risks to operational security and compliance efforts, particularly as the company pursued ISO certifications. Additionally, with teams working across different locations, a unified and secure password-sharing solution became mission-critical.

After a thorough assessment of various tools, both commercial and proprietary, Descor selected Passbolt as its new password management solution. The decision was driven by several factors:

• Passbolt’s open source model aligned with Descor’s ethical and security requirements.
• Its public key infrastructure (PKI) approach ensured robust encryption and access control.
• Passbolt was GDPR-compliant, self-hostable, and developed in Europe - critical points for Descor’s regulatory landscape.
• The pricing model fits comfortably within their IT budget.
• A transparent product roadmap and a developer-friendly, modular feature set offered long-term confidence.

Descor chose to deploy Passbolt in a self-hosted configuration, ensuring all data remained within their secure network or accessible via VPN. The deployment was seamless, with no need for external consultants. Rollout began with technical users and eventually expanded to the entire team. Today, over 50 employees use Passbolt, supported by single sign-on (SSO) integration via Azure Active Directory.

Training was minimal due to Passbolt’s intuitive interface, and the team quickly embraced features such as role-based access control (RBAC), TOTP sharing for MFA, and password autocomplete. The system is used daily to manage access credentials for over 2,000 deployment environments, each with multiple password sets.

Since implementing Passbolt, Descor has achieved several measurable outcomes:

• Improved Operational Efficiency: The IT team no longer deals with frequent requests for password resets or TOTP access clarification, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives.
• Stronger Security & Compliance: Secure, randomly generated passwords are now standard practice, aiding in the successful attainment of four ISO certifications.
• Business Growth: Descor has doubled its revenue within two years, in part thanks to streamlined processes and better security hygiene supported by Passbolt.
• Enhanced User Satisfaction: Features such as TOTP storage, password autocomplete, and seamless access via SSO have made secure workflows easy and efficient for the entire team.