Digital signage privacy: how it is ensured and what are the risks?

Cybersecurity has become one of the most important technology branches in the 21st century. Almost every day we wake up to the news of a new breach, new leak, new passwords batch, new malware. It’s scary when you don’t have protection. Where does digital signage fare when it comes to privacy? What are the risks of a digital signage privacy environment? Let’s look at these questions closely in this article.

Digital signage privacy basics

In order to understand how you can break into the system, it’s important to have an idea of how the system works. 

When it comes to cloud-based digital signage, it’s always about three things: 

- A screen 

- Digital signage device (Apple TV, Android TV)

- Digital signage software

While physical manipulations certainly can happen to your screens and digital signage devices, they are rarer than online cyber threats. And they will target your digital signage software first, that’s where all your security focus should be targeted at. 

Now, there may be a whole range of different risks connected to digital signage privacy. Here are the most common ones.

Types of digital signage privacy risks 

- Personal data breaches

This happens when malicious actors gain access to your data and steal it. The data in question can be the email address, the password, the phone number, sensitive content, confidential information, etc. This may happen both because of software vulnerabilities and due to human mistakes. 

For example, your IT team member may receive a phishing email where he/she will be asked to provide the password to your digital signage dashboard. Once it’s done, the fraudsters gain access to your whole operation. 

- Manipulation with broadcasted content

The reasons may be different, but the results are almost always negative. We’ve all seen the news when the hackers gained access to the OOH or DOOH screens and showed all kinds of things, from gory footage to porn. It may have dramatic consequences for your business or organization and you would want to eliminate the chance of such things happening.

Again, it’s mostly about hacking the digital signage software. It can be done the hard way when the hackers try to attack the security, or the soft way, when the access is gained through human error. In any case, it’s a serious risk and you should always think about breaches in your security. 

- Full lockout and losing access to your data

When you’re operating complex digital signage networks, losing access to it may mean losing lots of money and wasting time. Sometimes hackers may try to attack your infrastructure, lock it, and demand ransom for getting it back on. 

- Blackout

Maybe it’s a competitor, maybe an international actor, maybe a terrorist organization, maybe just a vigilante hacker. But it wishes you bad and is ready to kill your whole network. When we’re talking digital, all things should be taken into account and all cybersecurity threats should be expected. 

A full blackout scenario is not the most common one but it can happen so you should know it exists. 

Scary, right? But don’t worry. When you have a security-first approach within your company or organization and reliable software, it becomes much easier to mitigate any cybersecurity risk.

How Kitcast keeps your personal information secure? 

At Kitcast we’re committed to providing the highest level of security of your personal information. How exactly do we achieve this?

First of all, our software is constantly monitored and updated. Then all the users are informed about the updates. 

Keeping it up to date matters. It’s one of the most important steps in maintaining cybersecurity hygiene.

What about the servers, are they secure?

We store personal information on secure servers (Amazon Web Services ((AWS)) that are managed by us and our service providers. 

Personal information that we store or transmit is protected by security and access controls, including username and password authentication, two-factor authentication, and data encryption where appropriate.

Also, we provide quick and dedicated support in case you have any kind of privacy issues.

General advice on minimizing cybersecurity risks

Harvard research recently concluded that 80% of all data breaches are caused by human error. Read that again, 80% of all the hacking is because someone at the organization or a company has been in some way tricked into sharing sensitive information. 

That’s why if you want to eliminate this kind of thing from happening, it’s absolutely essential to have cybersecurity training in place. Your employees should know how to see the malicious intent.

All of the aforementioned are also relevant for digital signage security. You may have the most advanced and protected software in the world. But your employee has accidentally clicked the wrong link and now all your network is jeopardized. 

Educate your team, keep your software constantly updated, and treat cybersecurity seriously.