Securing Construction Files
Construction projects involve dozens of parties handling your most sensitive drawings. Most have no persistent protection once they leave.
A major construction project can involve architects, structural engineers, civil consultants, mechanical contractors, electrical subcontractors, council assessors, financiers, and legal firms, all handling the same set of sensitive drawings and specifications. Every handoff is a potential exposure point.
Standard file sharing tools, email, Dropbox, SharePoint, move the file. They do not protect it. Once a drawing reaches a contractor’s laptop, your control over it ends. You cannot see who else accesses it, cannot know if it is copied to a personal drive, and cannot revoke it when the engagement concludes.
GuardWare PROTECT Design changes that. Persistent in-use encryption means the drawing stays protected wherever it goes, whoever holds it, and for as long as it exists. When the project phase ends, you revoke the keys. The files become inaccessible instantly.
The challenge
Construction IP is exposed at every project handoff. Standard tools were not built to address this.
Construction drawings represent significant investment, months of design work, proprietary methodologies, commercially sensitive specifications. They are shared routinely with parties who have their own security posture that you cannot control. A subcontractor with weak endpoint security is a risk to your IP. A consultant who takes project files after their engagement ends is a risk to your confidentiality. A competitor who obtains your tender documents is a commercial threat.
The choice is not whether to share. Project delivery requires it. The choice is whether what you share remains under your control after you send it.
How GuardWare solves it
PROTECT Design applies persistent encryption to construction drawings, CAD files, DWG models, specifications, and project documents. The encryption travels with the file. Authorised parties, contractors, consultants, council assessors, work with the files normally. The protection is invisible to them. It is absolute to anyone without authorisation.
Remote key revocation allows you to instantly destroy access to every file you have shared with any party, the moment their engagement ends, without touching their device.
The Outcome
- Construction drawings stay encrypted across every contractor, consultant, and partner
- Remote revocation destroys access to all project files instantly when an engagement ends
- Project IP remains protected from initial design through to handover and decommission
- Insider theft by departing subcontractors is neutralised, copied files cannot be opened without authorisation
- Tender documents remain under your control throughout the evaluation process
- Full audit trail of every file access across the project lifecycle
How it works
Protect
Apply persistent in-use encryption to construction drawings, specifications, and project documents before sharing.
Share
Distribute protected files to contractors, consultants, and partners through your existing channels. The encryption travels with the file.
Monitor
Central console provides full oversight of who has accessed protected files, when, and from where.
Revoke
When an engagement ends or a party's authorisation changes, remote key destruction renders their files unreadable immediately.
Common Questions
Related Use Cases
Do you know where your sensitive data is?
Stop your IP and Design files from being stolen?
Stopping your confidential files from being stolen?
How are you measuring your AI risk today?
How to Protect Data Even After a Breach or Theft
ITAR Compliance and Sovereign Data Encryption
Protecting IP During Tenders and Procurement Processes
Securing Construction Drawings and Project Files
Securing Engineering Files and CAD Data
Sensitive Data Discovery and Classification
