How Geofencing Can Help Boost Mobile App Security and Compliance

November 17, 2023

There’s no question that mobile devices improve productivity. According to the Evolving Workforce Project, 83 percent of workers feel that advances in mobile technology have made them more productive. A Cisco study found that Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies enabled 37 minutes more productive time each week.

Unfortunately, that productivity can come at the expense of security. Mobile devices can get lost or stolen. Users fall victim to social engineering attacks and reveal their credentials. That puts corporate applications and data at risk of unauthorized access. This is particularly problematic in highly regulated industries such as banking and healthcare.

Geofencing is a powerful tool that can help reduce risk. With geofencing, a mobile app uses GPS, cellular data, Wi-Fi or radio frequency identification (RFID) to define a virtual boundary. Whenever the device exits that geographic area, the mobile app can be disabled. The DeSeMa team uses this technique frequently to secure sensitive applications.

Here are some examples of industry sectors where geofencing can strengthen mobile app security.

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Banking

Proximity-based geofencing can be useful in banking. Let’s say a banking organization has an application that interacts with ATMs. Field technicians use it to unlock the machines to retrieve and replenish cash, troubleshoot problems, and perform other functions. It would be very costly if the app fell into the wrong hands. With geofencing, we can limit the app so that it will only function if it’s in close proximity to one of the bank’s ATMs. If it’s not near an ATM, it simply won’t function.

Healthcare

In the healthcare sector, site-level geofencing becomes critical. A healthcare organization could face severe penalties if protected health information were to leave its facilities. We can use geofencing to enable your healthcare application to run on a user’s mobile device as long as the user is walking around the hospital. The minute the user leaves the hospital grounds, the application goes into a safety mode that prevents the user from accessing it.

We can also implement geofencing controls on a regional basis. For example, a provider of in-home healthcare services might have nurses, aides and other professionals who are licensed in different counties. We can geofence their applications based on each individual’s license. This aids in both security and compliance. If an individual who is only licensed in County A gets assigned a client in County B, the application will pop up a warning that the individual is outside the geofence. If the individual physically moves outside the licensed territory, the application will prevent access to that client’s data.

Utilities

In the utilities sector, there are applications that can control the electrical state of some of the lines. We can geotag the location of the site where the linemen are working, and prevent the application from enabling or shutting down power if the linemen aren’t standing in that location. If they’re not at the job site, they won’t have the ability to cut off power to sections of the grid accidentally.

Mobile devices deliver measurable productivity benefits, but highly regulated industries must implement a range of security measures to reduce the risk of a data breach. Geofencing helps to minimize the attack surface and reduces the risk of malicious or accidental data exposure. It also helps organizations comply with data privacy laws and government and industry regulations requiring data residency or localization.

Depending on your data type, DeSeMa can implement geofencing to enforce proximity-based, site-level or regional controls. Contact one of our security experts to learn how geofencing can boost the security of your mobile apps.