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Remote kiosk management best practices

A routine remote update for a Kansas City smart kiosk led to users being able to access the desktop and play Solitaire. The kiosk managers got lucky this time as no one did any permanent damage, but you can't rely on luck. This could have been prevented with some good practices for remote kiosk management.

June 1, 2016 by Laura Miller — Director of Marketing, Kioware

The Kansas City government has been hard at work transforming its city into a smart city, with informational kiosks, interactive signs and more. However, recently, a group of former programmers witnesses users playing Solitaire on an informational kiosk. During routine remote maintenance, the company handling the kiosks had shut down the kiosk software, enabling users to access the desktop. Although no damage was done, it was still a huge security risk.

The Kansas kiosk incident is one that highlights the risks and dangers inherent in any public access technology deployment. A post mortem on the failure is likely making the rounds of the organization responsible for the kiosks as well as the software company who wrote the lockdown software. Still, it makes sense to highlight a few best practices for deploying kiosks and interactive digital signage while also discussing key features that should be available in the kiosk software you select.

Some Remote Kiosk Management Best Practices:

A seatbelt only works if you use it.
1. When managing a deployed, in field kiosk, turning off the kiosk software should be a last resort. It cannot protect you if it is not in use.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound?
1. Use an OS that locks the user screen whenever a remote login occurs (Windows).
2. Consider blanking the screen. If you remote into a kiosk in order to conduct maintenance, best practice would be to blank the screen so that visitors to the kiosk (if there are any) only see a dark screen. If they try to hack into the machine or do anything to the system, they cannot see what they are doing – and if they can't see it, it didn't happen.
Everyone gets lucky sometimes.
1. Set the system to block unnecessary gestures. When users put their hands, palms, and fingers all over a device, they may occasionally hit on one that activates or deactivates an application. Like keyboard filtering, blocking unnecessary gestures eliminates the risk of random actions impacting the kiosk.

The correct kiosk system software has a number of features to help manage the kiosk without turning off the security/lockdown application. It's not just obtaining and deploying the correct kiosk software, it's also utilizing the features and settings available in order to keep it activated at all times.

Features to consider in a kiosk system software:

Update content remotely and in the background
Collect kiosk health statistics to monitor kiosk uptime and lockdown status
Ability to specify an interval to have the software check for settings file changes or check for changes at startup.
Ability to set a restart/reboot schedule
Push a settings file for immediate import.

Getting the right kiosk software and keeping it functional is the key to preventing potential security breaches. Thankfully, there are many great options for kiosk deployers if they do their research.