How Does Geofencing Protect Your Email?

The internet enables us to work on just about anything from just about anywhere. As long as you have a stable connection, you can check email, word on cloud-based documents, and meet with others over video calls.

But the ubiquity of the internet brings with it both pros and cons. As convenient as it can be to access your work from anywhere, that interconnectivity also allows bad actors to access your data from anywhere, too. If someone discovers your password, or obtains your MFA code in a phishing scheme, they may be able to access your email, for example. Suddenly, a hacker who lives nowhere near you is able to read and download any of your sensitive communications they wish.

Where Geofencing Comes Into Play

Geofencing combats this security risk, by placing a virtual perimeter around your email. When properly set up, geofencing ensures that your email account cannot be accessed outside of a certain geographical location. When you’re within these boundaries, you never know the difference. But once you leave the geofence, you lose access to the account.

It’s an inconvenience, but well worth it. Let’s run the previous example back, and say that someone obtains your login credentials for your Outlook inbox. They attempt to log in, and, with any other account, they’d be able to access it. But because your account is set up with a geofence that ensures logins outside the grid are not allowed, that hacker is unable to access your inbox.

This can also work with devices that you have logged into. You may have signed into your email on your work laptop or smartphone, and anyone with physical access might be able to get in. However, should they take your device outside of the geofence, the email account becomes inaccessible.

Abnormal internet activity outside of a geofence might also alert your ISP that there has been a data breach.