What is Geofencing?

Geofencing is a location-based security feature that enables organizations to define security policies for securing organization's sensitive business data on Android and iOS devices. If your organization's security policy prevents users from accessing corporate data outside the organization premises, you can configure a geofence policy to identify non-compliant devices and subsequently define an action to be taken on them.

How can Geofencing protect your corporate network?

Geofencing provides IT administrators the ability to create virtual fences, ensuring usage of corporate devices are restricted to the configured boundaries. Mobile Device Manager Plus (MDM) lets you achieve this by creating geographical location based fences, defining a compliance rule and specifying an action to be taken on non-compliant devices.

Geofencing prerequisites

To enable Geofencing using MDM, ensure the following pre-requisites are met:

• For Android devices
  • ME MDM app must be running 9.2.400 A or later versions.
  • Location services must be enabled on managed devices.
• For iOS devices
  • ME MDM app must be running 9.2.313 or later versions. Click here to silently install ME MDM app on managed iOS devices.
  • Permanantly enable location services on managed devices. 

How does Geofencing work?

There are two steps involved in configuring geofencing in MDM:

• STEP 1: Creating a geofence
• STEP 2: Setting up a geofence policy

Creating a geofence (Android and iOS devices)

To create a geofence, you need to choose a primary location and select a radius around it in order to create a virtual fence around the selected area by following the steps given below:

• On the MDM server, navigate to Device Mgmt -> Fence Repository from the left pane. Here, you will find the list of geofences which have been created previously.
• To create a new fence, click on Create Fence and provide a fence name.
• Now, select a location on the map which is to act as the center point for the geofence. On selecting the location, the address, as well as the co-ordinates, are automatically fetched.
• After selecting the location, define a radius for the geofence.
• Click on Create, to add the created geofence to the Fence Repository.

You can modify/delete the created geofence by clicking on the ellipsis icon present against the fence name.

Setting up a geofence policy (Android and iOS devices)

To create a geofence policy to define the actions to be performed on non-compliant devices, follow the steps given below:

• On the MDM Server, navigate to Device Mgmt -> Fence Policy from the left pane. Here, you will find the all the geofence related policies created previously.
• To create a new policy, click on Create Policy and provide a policy name.
• Now, define a rule for the policy wherein you select the geofence to be used in the policy. Devices which leave this geofence are marked as non-compliant. You can either choose from the list of created geofences or create one by clicking on Create a new fence option.
• You need to specify the actions to be performed once the device is marked as non-compliant. 
• Once you've defined the actions, click on Create Policy to finish policy creation. To distribute it to groups and/or devices, click on the ellipsis icon and select the Distribute to devices.
• Select the devices or groups, to which the policy is to be distributed. Once selected, click on Select to distribute the policy.

Since geofencing offers proactive governance, you can well in advance define an action to be taken on non-compliant devices. Based on your requirements, you can choose to execute this action immediately or after a day's delay.

You can alert the administrator and users about the devices violating the geofence policy via E-mail. Adding to this, alerts can be sent across to multiple E-mail IDs along with a customized message.

For organizations with stringent compliance standards, geofencing leverages certain security commands which let you wipe devices to factory settings. Data on the SD cards can also be completely wiped. The non-compliant devices can also be marked as lost with MDM's Lost Mode.

Why MDM Geofencing?

Geofencing finds numerous real-time use cases. For instance, an organization might have deployed dedicated devices to function as check-in Kiosks where employees or visitors provide their details while entering the organization. However, the usage of such devices are meant to be restricted to the organization's premises. The IT administrator can create a geofence policy such that, the data present in the them will get removed on leaving the predefined geographical area - which in this case is the organization's premises. You can also create geofences around all your regional offices and set a rule that notifies the IT administrator about managed devices leaving the fence areas.  

Create multiple fences and secure sensitive business data with MDM Geofencing. Avail a fully functional, 30-day free trial now!