Privacy-First Geotracking: Senturo’s New Approach to Protect Devices While Respecting Privacy

Introduction

For IT leaders managing mobile devices today, balancing device security and data privacy is no longer optional, it’s a business imperative.

Organizations must be able to:

• Protect valuable device assets
• Safeguard sensitive data
• Maintain accountability over large, distributed device fleets

All while respecting the privacy expectations of students, employees, and contractors.

Traditionally, tools for tracking devices forced an all-or-nothing choice:

• Enable always-visible tracking, which could raise privacy concerns and compliance risks, or
• Disable tracking entirely, sacrificing critical visibility needed for mobile device management, compliance enforcement, data protection, and loss prevention.

Privacy-First Geotracking from Senturo changes that. Now available as an optional feature, Privacy-First Geotracking empowers organizations to maintain full device protection while ensuring that location data is only revealed under controlled, policy-driven conditions.

Why Privacy-First Geotracking?

Every organization that issues corporate-owned devices, whether to students, employees, or contractors has a legitimate responsibility to manage those assets effectively:

• Recover misplaced or stolen devices quickly
• Maintain accurate asset records for financial accountability and compliance reporting
• Protect sensitive data that resides on or flows through mobile devices
• Enforce geo-compliance policies, especially in regulated industries
• Detect unusual patterns that may signal policy violations or security risks

Yet growing privacy concerns driven by public expectations and frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, FERPA, and SOC 2 demand a more nuanced approach to device tracking.

Senturo’s Privacy-First Geotracking provides this balance, giving IT teams flexible control over when and how location data is surfaced, while background protections remain fully active at all times.

How the Feature Works

Privacy-First Geotracking offers a tiered approach, giving organizations clear, configurable options to match their governance and privacy policies.

Senturo manages this configuration on the backend; levels are set on request through the Senturo team, ensuring that no single admin can unilaterally change privacy levels in the app.

Level 1 (Default): No Restrictions

• Full real-time location visibility for IT admins.
• Ideal for organizations that require continuous oversight of device locations (e.g. highly regulated environments or internal security policies).
• This level matches Senturo’s existing baseline functionality.

Level 2: Missing Mode Activation

• Location data is collected but obfuscated by default, not visible to IT admins during normal operations.
• When a device is reported missing:
  
  • The system automatically reveals the device’s last known location and location history to authorized admins.
  • Admins can immediately trigger advanced recovery actions (remote lock, wipe, or messaging).
• Enables fast recovery while maintaining privacy during day-to-day usage.

Level 3: Admin Sign-Off Workflow

• Location data is collected but hidden by default.
• If an admin requests access to location data (for example, during a compliance review or investigation), a second admin must approve the request before data is revealed.
• This dual-approval model provides the highest level of transparency and governance, ideal for privacy-sensitive environments.

Background protections including geofencing, IP fencing, and agent phone-home policies remain active and enforceable at all times, regardless of the privacy level selected.

Use Cases Across Industries

K-12 & Higher Education

Schools often manage large fleets of mobile devices, sometimes tens of thousands for students and staff, with small IT teams responsible for asset accountability and security.

Privacy-First Geotracking allows these teams to:

• Maintain device visibility across their entire fleet.
• Respect student and staff privacy by ensuring location data is only surfaced under strict, policy-driven conditions.
• Enforce policies as devices move between campuses, homes, and public spaces, a key need, particularly as 1:1 device programs expand and funding sources, such as ESSER grants, wind down, placing more emphasis on preserving device value and ensuring accountability.

Healthcare

Healthcare organizations must protect mobile devices that access or store Protected Health Information (PHI), while also complying with stringent privacy regulations.

Privacy-First Geotracking helps:

• Enforce geo-compliance policies (e.g., devices must remain within designated facilities).
• Maintain audit trails for compliance reporting.
• Recover devices without creating perceptions of constant employee surveillance.

Field Services

For companies with distributed, mobile workforces, Privacy-First Geotracking enables:

• Full fleet visibility and geo-compliance enforcement.
• Recovery of misplaced or stolen field devices.
• Respectful handling of employee privacy when devices are used off-hours or in mixed personal/professional contexts.

Regulated & Compliance-Driven Industries

Law firms, financial services, government contractors, and media companies often require:

• Detailed tracking for audit and compliance.
• Clear policies to protect employee privacy.
• Transparent governance to support standards like ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR.

Privacy-First Geotracking delivers these capabilities, enabling organizations to demonstrate trustworthiness and compliance while securing mobile assets.

Key Benefits

Balance visibility and privacy with flexible, policy-driven controls

Protect mobile assets throughout the device lifecycle

Support compliance with privacy and security regulations

Foster user trust through transparent processes

Enable scalable fleet management across industries and device types

Seamless integration with existing Senturo security and tracking workflows

Now Available: Choose Your Privacy-First Geotracking Level

Privacy-First Geotracking is now available to all Senturo customers as an optional feature, configured on request:

• Level 1: No restrictions (default setting)
• Level 2: Missing Mode Activation
• Level 3: Admin Sign-Off Workflow

To ensure governance consistency and prevent unauthorized changes, all level adjustments are handled by the Senturo team at the backend configuration level, not as an in-app setting.

If your organization is looking to enhance device security while demonstrating privacy leadership, Senturo’s Privacy-First Geotracking is built for you.

Ready to take a more privacy-conscious approach to device security and compliance?

Contact the Senturo team today to activate Privacy-First Geotracking or to explore which level best fits your organization’s needs.

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