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What Internet Explorer's end means for your kiosk software

Microsoft recently announced it is ending support for Internet Explorer in the beginning of 2016. Without Microsoft’s continued support of your operating system AND your browser, your kiosk is vulnerable to anyone that wants to leverage that security hole, thus you should prepare.

December 28, 2015 by Laura Miller — Director of Marketing, Kioware

While technical kiosk businesses are likely aware of Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle, it may come as news to kiosk owners that their kiosk is in need of updates in response to Microsoft’s "End of Support" schedule. Microsoft has released its "End of Support" schedule, highlighting the dates and versions of each product and when Microsoft will no longer be issuing security and support updates to fix bugs and eliminate vulnerabilities.

What does Microsoft’s "End of Support" Announcement mean for your Window’s kiosk?

If your kiosk runs the Windows Operating System, or you are in the business of supporting customers who have kiosks running a Windows OS, you have likely heard the news from Microsoft about its "End of Support" schedule for Internet Explorer, and you may have wondered what this means to you.

Do you care about Microsoft’s "End of Support" announcement? Should you care?

Yes, you should. Microsoft’s products need to be updated each and every time a security breach, vulnerability, or bug is found. Without Microsoft’s continued support of your operating system AND your browser, your kiosk is vulnerable to anyone that wants to leverage that security hole. In order to maintain the privacy and data security expected and required of kiosks, your device must be kept up-to-date with Microsoft’s security updates, and if there are no updates being passed down the line due to "End of Support" schedules, you must update your OS and/or browser to one that is supported.

Does kiosk system software offset the worry about "End of Support" issues?

Kiosk system software is the equivalent of a security fence around your property – no one can get into your operating system (house) without the code. If your device is not up to date according to Microsoft’s released support schedule, kiosk software can only protect from the outside in. Vulnerabilities in the operating system or browser open other access points (secret tunnels) to the device (house).

Does the "End of Support" schedule impact your kiosk?

If your kiosk uses an Internet Explorer based browser lockdown that is IE10 or earlier, yes, it is likely. You can view the schedule (released by Microsoft) for the exact list but here’s the shorthand:

Vista OS will support IE 9.
Windows 7 and 8.1 require IE 11.
Windows Embedded OS will vary based on specific model (anywhere from IE 7 to IE 11).

When is “End of Support” scheduled for your browser?

Most Internet Explorer browsers will be impacted on January 12, 2016.

What should you do to make sure this does not impact your kiosk security?

You should make sure your kiosk uses the latest version of IE supported by your OS. You will want to update to the version of Internet Explorer that continues to be supported.
You will also want to determine which version of kiosk software you are running, and which browser is supported by that version. In the case of KioWare, for instance, you need to update to version 7.1.0 or newer if you will be running the Internet Explorer 11 browser. Update to the kiosk software release that supports the Internet Explorer and operating system you will be using. Depending on the type of kiosk software you own you may need to buy a new license, though with KioWare, you will just need to have current support for your existing licenses.

If you don’t want to worry about Internet Explorer anymore, you have options.

Kiosk software companies continue to develop software to "future-proof" against Microsoft’s changes and to identify trends in browsers and operating systems to anticipate user behavior. As such, a number of kiosk software companies have developed browser lockdown solutions that secure browsers other than Internet Explorer. In user behavior trends, Google Chrome’s browser has overtaken IE as the preferred browser, and is the obvious choice for an alternative lockdown solution. Many kiosk system software and browser lockdown solutions companies now offer kiosk software for Windows that supports the Chrome browser.

Feel free to share this article with your customers and individuals within your organization for a better understanding of how Microsoft’s support decisions impact kiosk deployment.