As Kiosks Become More Sophisticated, Security Risks Soar
Written by Evan SchumanOctober 2nd, 2008
When a manager tries to connect a new kind of device to a network, IT is typically all over it, trying to discover potential security issues. But the much bigger risk is when a longtime network element, one that has been seen for years as innocuous and trivial, slowly becomes more intelligent and connected and quietly morphs into something that is anything but innocuous.
It happened five or six years ago when printers, faxes and scanners started getting direct access to IP—so a worker in Chicago could scan a document in and have it print out in the company's Los Angeles and New York offices. These devices were getting smart (more CPU, RAM, hard disk) and connected. But few IT departments initially thought about the security such devices, and they became an ultra-easy way to sneak into the LAN and get access to something more valuable. Today, that identical scenario is starting to play out with kiosks.
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2 Comments | Read As Kiosks Become More Sophisticated, Security Risks Soar
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-Christine
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:36 am
This is a really interesting story. I used to think of “kiosks” as just being general purpose Internet access points available to the public. But it’s important to be aware that the term is being used to describe more powerful devices that must be secured according to the data they handle, and the threats that they face.
When did they start giving the name “kiosks” to things like “Quick Pay” terminals and “Self Service Checkouts”? I’d think these should be treated differently than traditional kiosks, in just about every possible way.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Editor’s Note: Although self-checkout is in a related category to kiosks, I think the traditional unit still would not be called a kiosk. But (watch me completely contradict what I just said) as true kiosks start accepting payment and issuing product (whether it’s printing a giftcard or handing the customer an iPhone), the lines are going to get truly blurry.
What if the next-generation of self-checkout takes the impulse buy to the next level and allows candy bars and magazine to be dropped into the groceries at the push of a button? Why not allow for a customer to replace some other purchase to be delivered to their home later?
Yep, we’re going to be needing new words to describe this stuff.