A group of researchers at Virginia Tech have developed software
for the Android OS that can enforce policies on mobile devices
based on what room they’re in. It can even make sure that
sensitive data doesn’t walk out the door with them by wiping it
from a phone’s memory. The technology, which has gotten the
attention of Google’s federal government group and several
defense systems integrators, could eventually be used to protect
patient data on doctors’ tablets and sensitive military and
intelligence information. Virginia Tech researchers even suggest
it could be used to prevent students from texting during classes.
While there are existing applications that manage the security of
mobile devices, and technology to locate a phone by GPS is readily
available, GPS signals can’t be used accurately inside a building
to create policy zones as small as a conference room. So Virginia
Tech researchers have been looking at other ways to use smartphones’ built-in hardware to sense where the de