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Strategies for securing the self service machine network

While a generic kiosk or vending management solution might alleviate some concerns, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee security, calling for unified endpoint management solutions.

Image provided by iStock.

November 30, 2022 by Apu Pavithran — Founder and CEO, Hexnode | Mitsogo Inc.

The self-service industry that started with vending machines in the 1880s traveled a long way with the debut of self-serving gas stations, ATMs, etc. Towards the end of the twentieth century, as people gravitated more towards mobile technologies, Murray Lappe integrated self-service with technology, developing the first interactive kiosk in 1977.

Amongst the vast array of customers, kiosks and vending machines currently enjoy a colossal consumer base within retail stores. In addition, the huge advantage offered by retail self-service equipment in terms of open merchandise display, promised foot traffic and reduced space rent has boosted its adoption.

However, from merely being big screens, self-service machines have confronted threats at various phases in terms of integrity, availability and confidentiality over the years. Today, as kiosks and vending machines have found their place in public spaces, it calls for strategies to ensure the device's security.

With retail fronts deploying kiosks and vending machines at diverse locations, customizing, automating, managing and, above all, securing them is a huge hassle. While your generic kiosk or vending management solution might alleviate some of your concerns, it doesn't necessarily guarantee security, calling for unified endpoint management solutions.

Unified endpoint management solutions are third party software management systems that are available both on-premise and via software as a service (SaaS). As organizations have migrated to the cloud, the SaaS version has been finding greater adoption.

When an organization opts for a UEM solution, it gains access to all of its functionalities, although the available features may differ depending on the subscribed plan.

Features that such plans can support include the management of security, expenses, apps, content, desktop, bring-your-own-device, kiosk, network, data IoT, network, data, email, identity and access.

Security challenges hit self-service equipment

While self-service machines have become the retail sector's golden goose, the management and security have faced some challenges. The 2019 assault on a McDonald's self-service kiosk painted a clear picture of the challenges an unattended kiosk could encounter.

Several such roadblocks have brought businesses to UEM solutions.

UEM allows administrators to harness its potential of pre-configuring devices with the necessary settings and locking them right out of the box before shipping them to diverse locations.

Kiosk mode is supported on major operating systems like Android, Windows and iOS. Most UEM solutions integrate with various enterprise programs offered by these OSes, powering IT with the capability to configure devices remotely.

For example, while admins can leverage Apple's ABM program to enable over-the-air enrollment, they also have Android's Zero Touch Enrollment, Samsung's Knox Mobile Enrollment and Window's Autopilot deployment in place.

UEMs also solve concerns surrounding troubleshooting errors by allowing IT to fix bugs across remotely-installed kiosks without demanding physical presence.

The entire essence of kiosks lies behind improving customer appeal and experience. Businesses can enhance the feel of their digital kiosks by customizing content and constantly updating their devices with the latest resources, be it images, PDFs or videos. Furthermore, your machines can be transformed into streaming screens by playing pre-uploaded media files in a loop with background soundtracks, all through a UEM software.

Securing vulnerable equipment

In many scenarios, kiosks and vending machines function as point-of-sale terminals making it necessary to maintain compliance with data and privacy regulations like GDPR, SOC, etc. To remain compliant, UEMs offer various security features supporting the same.

From enforcing password policies to updating OSes, IT admins can configure the device's functionality remotely. For example, camera, keyboard shortcuts and USB tethering can be restricted, limiting ways in which a user can tamper with a machine's core settings.

With UEMs, organizations can ensure that their devices remain connected to Wi-Fi and VPN for the smooth functioning of the device. Furthermore, configuring basic defense mechanisms across the fleet, like firewalls and other encryption techniques, FileVault for macOS and Windows Defender for Windows, can also be leveraged through a UEM.

Finally, your company IT can generate reports on device behavior, enforcing policies on non-compliant devices or disconnecting compromised devices.

In late 2015, the New York City government's LinkNYC initiative installed public kiosks to make Wi-Fi available to all its citizens. However, by the summer of 2016, the Link's browsers were disabled based on concerns that they were being used for illicit purposes.

This open-ended nature of the Internet has long been a self-service machine's biggest nemesis. Users can be prevented from accessing external websites by allowing specific web URLs necessary for the customer, thereby avoiding exposure to a weak link.

Additionally, locking devices to necessary retail applications and configuring supporting apps in the background will prevent users from tampering with external apps.

Closing the line

With rising security concerns, businesses will be on the run to secure the digital health of every self-service machine in their fleet. AI-based, touch capacitive, touchless, gesture-based activation mechanism — self-service technology is ever evolving.

While planning your machine network, it is advised to visualize the future of your deployed machines and opt for a UEM solution that supports scalability. With smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs across various platforms finding presence in the industry, ensure that the UEM of your choice supports a broad spectrum of devices.

The deal is to stay ahead of the game. While threats like abusing external links, touch fuzzing and data fuzzing will continue to plague the self-service equipment market, anticipating threats you are likely to encounter and choosing a UEM solution that helps you work towards your threat mitigation strategy is the first step towards building a healthy self-service machine network.

About Apu Pavithran

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