Pro-Touch

Kiosk Security: Breach of Private Information

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Security is important to everything; whether it is a kiosk, a computer, a jewellery store or a mobile phone.

It is vital to ensure that people are free from danger and threats and that those who need it, are protected. On a national scale, it is integral for country’s to defend its citizens against terrorism and criminal activity such as theft.

One example firm has been signalled out for its poor kiosk security to indicate to others how to look after and care for security efficiently. Its breach of security enabled the staff workforce unauthorised admission to private information.

For five months employees at a hospital in Massachusetts, in America had access to one another’s personal pay stub information via the hospital shared Kiosks.

At UMass Memorial Healthcare, 10 installed units gave employees information regarding their pay stub. But it also then gave subsequent users access to the info of previous users.

The personal information exposed the 13,500 hospital staff to learn of others’ names, bank name, bank transit number and bank account number. Private data that included social security numbers, medical records and patient information was not breached.

As a result of the security infringement, the organisation is offering potentially affected employees reimbursements of one year of free credit monitoring and the costs to institute a security freeze. Only those who accessed HRConnect using one of the Touch screen Kiosk between 7th October and 11th March have possibly been affected by the security violation.

A system-wide software change was applied to disable the organisation’s settings and the UMass Memorial kiosks have been returned for use.

Rob Brogna, UMass Memorial spokesman, said they have no reason to believe that any of the personal information on HRConnect has been misused.

He said: “UMass Memorial deeply regrets this incident and is continually evaluating and modifying its practices to enhance the security and privacy of all confidential and sensitive information entrusted to it.”

Stay safe with Protouch’s all in one software package, Gorilla Media. It can fully support your kiosk network and has the ability to securely lock down a machine using its secure browser and watch over an entire estate of kiosks through its network management application.

Its comprehensive suite of services cover hosting to displaying and scheduling content through to monitoring and reporting kiosk status.

Contact us today to find out why we are Europe’s number one in Touch screen technology.