By Josh Anton, Chief Strategy Officer for Digital Envoy
IP geolocation is the mapping of an internet-connected user’s location based on the IP address of their connected device, be it a desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, or tablet. Sophisticated IP geolocation services are capable of tracking a user’s location with 97%+ accuracy at a city level – globally.
While IP geolocation can be an effective tool for discovering a user’s location, it does not access any personally identifiable information. Therefore, it is not required to ask for a user’s permission to access this data, making IP geolocation an integral tool for marketers and network security professionals in this time of data hyper-sensitivity.
In addition to geolocation, IP data provides an array of useful information, such as a user’s connection type, speed, and whether or not any proxies are being used. Inferences drawn from this advanced IP data can be leveraged by businesses for a wide range of uses, including targeted advertising, localized content, threat detection, online fraud prevention, and digital rights management (DRM), amongst others.
Here are just a few of the ways businesses can leverage IP data for their benefit.
Targeted Advertising & Localized Content
In the oversaturated world of digital advertising, marketers, now more than ever, need to create relevant, targeted ads to create meaningful impressions with their audience. IP data provides marketers with a wealth of information about their customers, which can be leveraged to create and implement these ads.
For example, if a customer passes by a business’ storefront every day around the same time, marketers can serve that person relevant offers at that time to encourage the customer to stop by the store.
On a less granular level, IP geolocation provides marketers with the ability to target customers with ads that are relevant to them, whether it be in the correct language or type of currency. For instance, you wouldn’t want to target someone in the UK with an advertisement in French or that features American dollars instead of British pounds.
Threat Detection
Threat detection is one of the preeminent goals of network security professionals. While preventing every single threat to a network is next to impossible, IP data can be leveraged to provide the needed context to identify potential threats to shut them down proactively.
If a user is attempting to connect from a country or district within a country that is a known hotbed for bad actors, that is something worth noting and investigating further before granting that user access to the network. The same goes for VPNs. While the mere use of a VPN doesn’t necessarily indicate a potential threat, there are certain VPN services that are more likely to be used by bad actors. If the service is free or doesn’t collect data from its users, that would likely make it appealing to those looking to cause harm. If such a VPN were to be detected, that user’s connection could be flagged for further inspection, or the connection could be outright blocked.
Finally, if a user’s connection is bouncing from various locations at unrealistic speeds, this would likely raise a red flag with network administrators. Again, while a proxy alone doesn’t necessarily indicate a threat, it is one piece of a larger puzzle used by network security professionals to identify real threats before they occur.
Online Fraud Prevention
Over the last few years, the number of digital fraud occurrences has increased drastically, in no small part due to the fact that more and more businesses and financial institutions are offering digital activation of services that previously required in-person activation. At the same time, customers’ personal information is more susceptible than ever, thanks to advancements in phishing and other malicious techniques employed by bad actors.
With IP geolocation and other advanced IP data, businesses can determine whether or not the person trying to access an account is, in reality, the person to whom the account belongs or aligns with the provided account information.
For example, if an account operator lives in Iowa, but someone is attempting to access it from Bangladesh, this might raise a red flag. Additional IP data allows businesses to check for proxies and VPNs to determine whether the user is trying to mask their connection.
Digital Rights Management
DRM is becoming increasingly important in today’s ever-digital world. Businesses need to be sure that the people accessing their content or sensitive information are who they portray themselves to be.
One example of this would be video streaming services, which need to abide by licensing agreements that vary from country to country. If a streamer licenses certain content for display in the United States, that does not provide them with the right to offer it to customers in other countries where they haven’t licensed it.
To protect themselves from penalties and secure their bottom lines, these companies need to be sure that no one is attempting to access the content illegally from an area where the content is not licensed. IP geolocation provides them with the ability to determine a user’s location (as well as the necessary context of advanced IP data) and make a decision on whether or not that user is accessing the content illegally or not.
Overall, IP geolocation and data provide businesses with the necessary information to reach customers with relevant, targeted ads, protect their networks and customers from threats, and secure their sensitive information from being accessed illegally.
