Kiosk software is the system and

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

software designed for an

interactive kiosk An interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, or education. By 2010, the largest bill pay kiosk networ ...

Internet kiosk An interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, or education. By 2010, the largest bill pay kiosk network ...

enclosing the system in a way that prevents user interaction and activities on the device outside the scope of execution of the software. This way, the system replaces the look and feel of the system it runs over, allowing for customization and limited offering of ad-hoc services. Kiosk software locks down the application in order to protect the kiosk from users which is specially relevant under, but not only limited to, scenarios where the device is publicly accessed such libraries, vending machines or public transport. Kiosk software may offer remote monitoring to manage multiple kiosks from another location. An Email or text alert may be automatically sent from the kiosk for daily activity reports or generated in response to problems detected by the software. Other features allow for remote updates of the kiosk's content and the ability to upload data such as kiosk usage statistics. Kiosk software is used to manage a

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

, allowing users to touch the monitor screen to make selections. A

virtual keyboard A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows the input of characters without the need for physical keys. The interaction with the virtual keyboard happens mostly via a touchscreen interface, but can also take place in a different form ...

eliminates the need for a

computer keyboard A computer keyboard is a peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape technolog ...

Security

Kiosk system software addresses

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

by deterring users from maliciously attacking or hacking into the kiosk. Kiosk software must be able to prevent misuse of the provided features. Of equal importance is the ability of the software to limit non malicious users to specific, predetermined activities so the device can be used for a specific task, communication, action or function. Kiosk software is a critical component to protecting public facing devices from hackers, inadvertent misuse, and unauthorized access. Kiosk software has the facility for an administrator to configure the software to suit the users and limit user behavior. Administrators can enable or disable parts of the kiosk software via secure log in.

Security 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 dialog allows 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 Control-Alt-Delete (often abbreviated to Ctrl+Alt+Del, also known as the "three-finger salute" or "Security Keys") is a computer keyboard command on IBM PC compatible computers, invoked by pressing the Delete key while holding the Control and ...

. * 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 In a web browser, the address bar (also location bar or URL bar) is the element that shows the current URL. The user can type a URL into it to navigate to a chosen website. In most modern browsers, non-URLs are automatically sent to a search eng ...

and incorporating

domain Domain may refer to: Mathematics *Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined **Domain of definition of a partial function **Natural domain of a partial function **Domain of holomorphy of a function * Do ...

and page blocking into the kiosk system software or browser lockdown software. Custom toolbars and navigation options are often a feature utilized by kiosk software. * Oftentimes, a touch screen keyboard is used in place of a physical keyboard. The touch screen "virtual" keyboard is often built into the kiosk software and have custom design options. * Additional feature sets of kiosk software include external devices (allowing for barcode readers, credit card readers, proximity mats, or retractable printing) * More advanced deployments may also utilize management features such as usage, statistics, health & content management. * One critical feature of kiosk software is the ability to clear the cache, user history and data between uses and users. This prevents users from accessing private data and protects both the device & the user from unauthorized data access. * Another critical feature of kiosk software is the option to disable USB ports and other external access. This feature prevents hacks such as that of the Brinks Safe Hack, where hackers accessed the operating system of a Brinks Safe, unlocking the safe and providing access to the critical financial information on the PC.

Operating systems

Kiosk software is available for most all operating systems:

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

ChromeOS ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfa ...

, Android,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

, etc.

Browsers

It also can be found to support various browsers, most commonly

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems ( ...

, Safari,

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

and Google Chrome.

Alternatives

Kiosk software is also an option for projects that may not even be using kiosk hardware. Windows PCs and Chrome Devices can be configured to run in “kiosk mode” which prevents users from accessing certain system functions. For Windows, 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. Kiosk system software can be used to secure the kiosk or PC instead. For those running a

OS, an alternative to kiosk software is

Group Policy Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2003+) that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. G ...

, which serves to restrict user access to certain areas of the operating system, though not without its own drawbacks and security issues.GPO vs Kiosk Software
"Using Group Policy Object (GPO) for Device Security",

References