Geo-Fencing at Michigan Medicine


Overview

Michigan Medicine practices geofencing, a virtual "perimeter" or "fence" around a given geographic feature where network access is blocked.

 

On April 8, 2025, the Department of Justice (DoJ) mandated adding geo-fencing to the following countries of concern: China, Macau, Hong Kong, Venezuela, and Russia. For several years, we have blocked incoming traffic from North Korea, Iran, and Cuba – this effort will expand to the DoJ countries of concern, including now blocking outbound connectivity to all countries listed above.

 

Important: Personal communications, such as emails, IP phones, Zoom calls, and Teams will not be blocked. The intent is to block large files which could be bulk data transfers (PowerPoints, Excel Sheets, etc.).

 

The full copy of the final rule's language is available in the Federal Register. 

 

For requests related to exemption from this network blocking, submit a request by visiting the IT Service Catalog, searching “Content Filter Exception,” and filling out the form with applicable information.  

Related Information

FAQs

  1. Is there a way to log into your Michigan Medicine email (ie, Outlook/Exchange) from countries of concern?
    • No
  2. Will the Virtual Private Network (VPN) or Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) work from within a country of concern?
    • No
  3. If the HITS VPN is blocked, could UMich VPN be used instead?
    • See the ITS VPN site for more information on using it within countries of concern. UMich VPN does not have the same level of access as the HITS VPN so, regardless, some Michigan Medicine resources may not be available through the UMich VPN option.
  4. Will MFleet wifi block access to and from countries of concern?
    • Yes
  5. Will eduroam wifi work to access resources from countries of concern?
    • Yes
  6.  Can UMich Gmail be accessed from countries of concern?
    • See the ITS GMail site for more information 
  7. Will UMich Zoom work from countries of concern?
    • See the ITS Zoom site for more information
  8. Will publicly-facing websites hosted on HITS resources, including Michigan Medicine SharePoint pages, be blocked when users attempt to access them from countries of concern?
    • Yes
  9. Will all Azure-hosted resources be blocked?
    • Yes
  10.  Is there an exemption request available?
    • Yes, see the link to a "Firewall Change Request" in the article above
  11.  The Federal Register lists tiles as geo coordinates. How have these been turned to country lists with technical identifiers?
    • We rely on the country identification handled by the products themselves
  12.  Will HITS Core Image devices themselves be blocked from working in the countries of concern (ie, can a user even log into their device and work locally)?
    • This is unclear at the moment. Ideally, devices themselves would also be blocked to further reduce the security risk.