5 Minimum Security Features Every Kiosk Should Have

Cybersecurity is a growing threat across all types of devices, and your kiosk is no exception. Any electronic device that has internet connectivity is vulnerable to being hacked by a remote user or manipulated by an on-site user. If that happens to you, the results can range from being embarrassing (such as when a user hijacked a kiosk in Washington D.C.’s Union Station to play a pornographic video) to downright dangerous (such as when hackers rob credit card numbers and people’s identities). Every kiosk’s security needs will be slightly different, but here are some of the basic features that will help your kiosk to be safe from attack.

1. Video surveillance

You can’t be there all the time, and for kiosks that are at a distance from your physical location, someone with bad intentions could manipulate your kiosk in a moment where someone isn’t watching. Take a tip from ATM machines and install a video surveillance camera that’s pointed at your kiosk at all times and recording all data. For the kiosks that need even more security, have your data feed sent to a location where someone is watching all the time for suspicious activity. Video surveillance might not be able to stop an attack from happening, but it can give you valuable data that can protect you from false accusations if there should ever be an incident. Furthermore, not every crook will be there to perform a cybersecurity attack. Even in an event of simple vandalism, video surveillance can help you to apprehend the crook,

2. Restricted physical access to parts

Give a person unrestricted physical access to the parts that make up your kiosk, and you have a major security problem on your hands. If someone can easily open up the back of your kiosk and plug in a USB drive or alter the physical components, that puts you at risk. This represents a puzzle for many kiosk suppliers, as it is essential for field service personnel to have access to perform needed maintenance, while denying this access to unauthorized people.

This is one of the areas that a field service management company like Site Service Now! can help you with. We can perform an initial site survey of the kiosk’s intended location and identify any security risks that you’ll need to account for, as well as any additional equipment you’ll need to bring on site for installation. Then, when it’s time to deploy the kiosk, we can set it up for you and verify that everything is as it should be.

Depending on the sensitivity of the information that the kiosk will handle, a simple lock may be sufficient, or you may need to incorporate more drastic measures, such as embedding the kiosk in a wall the way they do with ATM machines.

3. Locked-down user interface

Many kiosks build the user interface on a common platform, such as the Windows operating system, and then build a user mode where the screens are locked down to deny users the option of accessing the Windows menus. The problem in the notorious Washington, D.C. Union Station incident was that the user interface screens were insufficiently locked down. A user gained access to the Windows 10 system on the kiosk and opened a pornographic video, which played for approximately three minutes before employees succeeded in turning the machine off.

4. Remote patching ability

The Internet of Things is a double-edged sword of both convenience and threat, and your kiosk could be a target of hackers who want to harness its internet connectivity for their own ends, such as running a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack against a server. With clever geniuses constantly finding loopholes in even the most robustly-protected systems, security patches are an indispensable fact of life. Make sure that your kiosk takes into account this need and allows for regular patches to be pushed to the software.

5. Regular maintenance

Part of your kiosk’s security protocol will be regular maintenance to ensure that everything is up and running as intended. Count on the nationwide network of providers from Site Services Now to perform these regular maintenance checks for your kiosk.

We hope these security basics have been useful to you. Of course, if your kiosk is built to handle sensitive information, such as HIPAA-covered data, you’ll have to jump through more security hoops. Consult a cybersecurity expert to ensure that your kiosk is adequately protected.

Call Site Services Now! for Kiosk Service Nationwide

Whether you need a security expert for your kiosk or simply need a provider to service your kiosk, assist with deployment, or help you with troubleshooting, count on Site Services Now! We are here to serve you, so call us today.