The traditional method for implementing such updates is far from ideal: it requires an authorised technician to physically connect a laptop PC via a cable to a kiosk, and manually upload the new software from the PC. This takes up valuable technician time, and makes impossible the exact synchronisation of updates across geographies, or across all installed devices within a country or territory.

Much better, then, if the process can be implemented remotely and automatically as a software over-the-air (OTA) update. But when implemented by a kiosk manufacturer, the security protection for the update process is the manufacturer’s responsibility – and software updates are notoriously prone to attack. If a cyber-criminal can corrupt or copy the update and install their own rogue software in a kiosk, the entire fleet may be exposed to the risk of intrusion. Organised crime operations have used this technique on other types of devices and systems to extort millions of dollars in ransom payments from manufacturers.

Secure third-party platform

This is why kiosk manufacturers prefer a proven, secure platform for distributing and installing software and app updates. And the world’s most widely used such platform is Google Mobile Services (GMS): this is the host system for the Google Play™ Store, through which app updates are securely delivered to smartphones based on the Android operating system.

Now KIOSK Embedded Systems, part of the Posiflex Group, is enabling OTA software updates via the Google Play Store on all new kiosks. The support for Play Store software updating follows Google’s award of GMS certification to KIOSK Embedded Systems. KIOSK has developed new operating software which conforms to Google’s comprehensive specifications for GMS. This software has been exhaustively tested for compliance with Google’s Compatibility Testing Suite, first by KIOSK, and then by an independent laboratory authorised by Google. Google requires OEMs to pass the compatibility test before it awards GMS certification, to maintain the security and interoperability of its platform.

It is understood that KIOSK Embedded Systems is the world’s first kiosk manufacturer to gain GMS certification. As well as enabling software and app updates via the Google Play Store, GMS certification also enables KIOSK products to support other elements of GMS: the familiar search engine, the Chrome™ browser, the Maps™ mapping service, and the YouTube video portal.

Timely, efficient software updates

A GMS-certified kiosk which has an internet connection continually pings the GMS platform to check for available updates, in the same way as an Android system-based smartphone does. When a kiosk detects an available update on the Play Store, it alerts the local staff who are responsible for the kiosk. The staff simply have to press the on-screen ‘Update’ button, and the kiosk automatically completes the updating process.

This eliminates the need for technicians to implement any manual updating process, such as choosing file locations or file types, and so avoids the risk of human error corrupting or invalidating the process. It also ensures that the update can be uploaded simultaneously to an entire fleet of kiosks and implemented quickly, to minimise the period during which a kiosk is potentially running out-of-date software.

The new GMS certification for KIOSK Embedded Systems products, then, enhances the security of kiosks in the field, reduces the workload of field service technicians, and ensures that kiosk operators can be sure of maintaining fully updated software across their entire installed base.