Security
Kiosk system software addresses security by deterring users from maliciously attacking or hacking into the kiosk. Kiosk software must be able to prevent misuse of the provided features.
It is critical that the kiosk software prevent the user from ever reaching the desktop or file system. This type of security can be difficult because standard print dialogs allow the content to be printed to a file and enable the user access to the file system. The same is true for many email links that load the default email tool and allows the email to be saved to a file.
If the kiosk includes a keyboard, the kiosk software must also disable all problematic specialty keys and keystroke sequences such as Control-Alt-Delete.
With browser-based or Internet kiosks, the standard browser menus must be disabled because these provide too much configuration control to the user. It is important to prevent the user from accessing URLs not applicable to the function of the kiosk. This can be accomplished by hiding the address bar and incorporating domain and page blocking into the kiosk system software or browser lockdown software.
Kiosk software is also an option for projects that may not even be using kiosk hardware. PCs can be configured to run in “kiosk mode”, which prevents users from accessing certain system functions. This may not be appropriate for all uses, since running in kiosk mode may not give deployers the amount of control they need for their final end product configuration. Additional kiosk system software can be used to secure the kiosk or PC instead.
Read more about this topic: Kiosk Software
Famous quotes containing the word security:
“The most disgusting cad in the world is the man who, on grounds of decorum and morality, avoids the game of love. He is one who puts his own ease and security above the most laudable of philanthropies.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“There is something that Governments care for far more than human life, and that is the security of property, and so it is through property that we shall strike the enemy.... Be militant each in your own way.... I incite this meeting to rebellion.”
—Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928)
“Modern children were considerably less innocent than parents and the larger society supposed, and postmodern children are less competent than their parents and the society as a whole would like to believe. . . . The perception of childhood competence has shifted much of the responsibility for child protection and security from parents and society to children themselves.”
—David Elkind (20th century)