Wireless access point specific location based encryption

Abstract

The growing adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies amongst corporations is leading to a greater need for technologies that can be used as a part of Mobile Device Management (MDM) strategies. MDM software is commonly used to control the content that is delivered to and accessible from mobile devices as well as to ensure the compliance of devices with corporate security policies. Recently MDM software packages have begun to make use of location aware security solutions such as geofencing to restrict the ability of users to access content to a certain geographic area. While geofencing can be a useful MDM feature, it does have some potential caveats in that not all mobile devices contain a GPS unit and, for devices with GPS units, their mandatory use could potentially raise privacy concerns for employees. The potential for providing wireless access point specific location based encryption services, whereby proximity to a certain access point is a requirement for data encryption and decryption, is explored in this paper. It is hypothesized that such a technique could be used as a means of providing location based encryption services without the explicit need for a GPS unit. The application of this technique as a part of a defense in depth wireless security model is discussed.