When you think of kiosks, the first thing that comes to mind is an ATM. While ATM discrepancies and fraud occur frequently, the same is true of kiosks of all kinds. A few of these include:

• Airline boarding pass printers
• Gas station pumps
• Point of sale systems like self-checkout
• Employment applications at major retailers
• Healthcare kiosks
• Food service

All of these have a common element: they collect and process sensitive customer data. Be it a credit card or federally protected health information, consumers trust these kiosks to keep their data secure and private. As the use of self-service kiosks rises dramatically due to their speed and convenience, companies must be vigilant or face the consequences.

What Does Kiosk Fraud Look Like?

By this point most people have heard of skimmers – devices that intercept a credit card and associated data, and which are very hard for the average layperson to detect. Card skimmers account for most kiosk-related breaches, and they can be some of the most insidious to track down and eliminate. Not to mention that perpetrators are very difficult to catch and bring to justice.

Beyond skimmers, hackers exploit over-the-air (OTA) software and firmware updates to gain access to networks and open both consumers and companies to catastrophic incursions. We swipe our credit cards everywhere these days, but bad actors can and do use this information to access account numbers, PIN codes, passwords, and more for identity theft or fraud.

Investigating Kiosk Fraud and Theft

With the stakes so high for companies operating kiosks, prevention is one piece of the puzzle. Another part of the puzzle is to investigate the breaches, locate scammers, and remediate the theft from a legal standpoint. There is also the question of fault: did a third-party kiosk operator (like a gas station owner) take adequate steps to protect the machine? Did an OTA update get corrupted?

IT administrators can only do so much to ameliorate kiosk fraud. Manual administration of all kiosks is unrealistic.

The iDS Approach

When a breach in your kiosks occurs, it’s vital to assess the damage to customer data and financial impact on the organization. iDiscovery Solutions (iDS) delivers rapid response to kiosk compromise, jumping in to quickly identify exposure due to fraud.

A single incident can cause devastating organizational, financial, and reputational harm. iDS’ cybersecurity services strengthen your security posture through expert-driven risk mitigation and incident response strategies – protecting your data with a customized approach that is tailored for your needs.

Kiosks are exploding in popularity because of their speed and convenience, but that popularity doesn’t have to come with a corresponding explosion in threat levels.

To learn more about how to remediate kiosk risk and fraud, email info@idsinc.com or call 1.800.813.4832 for a free consultation.

iDS provides consultative data solutions to corporations and law firms around the world, giving them a decisive advantage – both in and out of the courtroom. Our subject matter experts and data strategists specialize in finding solutions to complex data problems – ensuring data can be leveraged as an asset and not a liability.