Digital signage wants to be taken seriously as an enterprise technology - yet half the industry still treats cybersecurity like an optional add‑on. For years, networks have been deployed with weak passwords, outdated OS versions, open ports, and media players left unpatched for months. The result? Screens that are beautiful on the outside and dangerously exposed on the inside.

Let’s be honest: Cybersecurity has been the industry’s dirty secret — ignored by vendors, underestimated by operators, and misunderstood by customers. All while digital signage screens have quietly become part of critical infrastructure: airports, hospitals, transport hubs, retail media networks, corporate communications, and public information systems.

This panel confronts the uncomfortable truth: Why did it take actual breaches and public defacements for the industry to wake up? Why do so many deployments still fail the most basic security standards? And who carries the blame when a single compromised player takes down an entire network - or a brand’s reputation?

With ransomware, supply‑chain attacks, and remote vulnerabilities rising across all connected devices, digital signage is no longer a harmless “AV project.” It’s a target. This session is a wake-up call - loud, necessary, and long overdue.