Secure your digital signage solution – here’s why!

Today, we came across a news article titled “Porn shock for tourists” – just from reading the title of the article you’re thinking – “what has this got to do with digital signage?”. There is a lesson to learn from this article so here is a copy of the article:

Computer pranksters in Croatia hacked into tourism board computers and downloaded blue movies onto a town centre information screen.

Red faced officials in Slavonski Brod managed to shut down the link but only after a cheering crowd had gathered around the screen, which normally gives cultural tips to visitors.

Police called in special IT crime experts to help track down the hackers.

Meanwhile the local council have pledged to splash out on a computer security upgrade to make sure nothing similar happens again.

Deputy mayor Zeljka Kristof said: “This is something we take very seriously because we have worked hard to give our town an image among tourists and visitors that we do not want sullied in any way.

“This incident shocked a lot of people and made our visitors feel very uncomfortable. It just proves our computer systems need to be made more secure.”

Source: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3074964.html

Like any other IT solution, digital signage needs to be secure – it needs to protect the solution from hackers and unauthorised access. In this case, the screen was hijacked and the tourist information was replaced with a porn video. We might have giggled when reading the article but it’s a serious issue if it happened to us *Not many parents would have been impressed if their children were there*. The consequences could have been more devastating – the screen could have been used to display sensitive information.

Like the Internet, digital signage solutions have many vulnerabilities and security holes and it is the responsibility of the network operators to ensure the solution is secure.

We also previously talked about ways to mitigate various security issues in our previous post called “How Secure Is Your Digital Signage Solution?“. Here’s the link if you’re interested to read further.

Lesson learnt: make sure your digital signage solution is secure before you have the public looking at your screen!!!

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Tags: digital signage solution, hackers, security, vulnerabilities

Written on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 12:27 pm by DigitalSignageBlog
Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News

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2 Responses to “Secure your digital signage solution – here’s why!”

Don Harting
November 9th, 2008 at 5:19 am

This is a great anecdote and you’ve done a public service by posting it on your blog. It made me laugh. However, I wish to add this more serious comment:

digital signage has an image problem to overcome. While checking out a book at a local library, I pointed out a digital sign behind the checkout counter. Both librarians rolled their eyes, saying they thought the sign was tacky, wishing it wasn’t there. I must admit, the message being broadcast–luxurious spa treatments–seemed to have little to do with the interests of the average library patron. And my own experience with so-called “clinic TV,” including health-related programs displayed in doctors’ waiting rooms, isn’t much better. Most “shows” I’ve watched while waiting in a doctor’s office have been blatantly self-serving and lacking in credibility.
Daniel
November 12th, 2008 at 11:21 pm

I agree to both the post and the comment above. You’d be surprised that many digital signage installs are done perfect at the end point attached to the screen, but loosely open when you have to connect a router/modem to the other end.

In saying that, I attended a call the other day to fix up some internet issues at a local cafe. The owner didn’t know what the password to the router was, being typical of me I tried my luck. Not surprisingly, I got in first go – the default admin/admin had not been changed. Now I had free access to their network, including the attractive large screen on the main wall.

In response to Don, I totally agree with you. Digital signage companies really need to follow up and keep in contact with all of their clients to ensure that they are getting their ROI properly and in the right way. Its not called a Digital signage solution if all you provide is just the hardware without any good use to it. Because it is still a concept in its infant stages in some countries, I don’t think business owners have the proper mentality of how it should be used vs. how they want it to be used.