Securing Sensitive Information in Financial Printing

Best Practices for Compliance and Data Protection

Printing financial documents with sensitive information requires a high standard of security and protection. Unfortunately, most office printers fall far short of this standard, potentially risking data leaks and regulatory violations. Regardless of where you print, this resource will help you understand what the best practices are for print security.

Compliance in Financial Printing 

Maintaining compliance in financial printing can be tricky. Multiple laws and regulations direct financial institutions to protect their sensitive information, including:

• SEC: 17 CFR 248.30(a)(1) “Every covered institution must develop, implement, and maintain written policies and procedures that address administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for the protection of customer information.”
• FTC: 16 CFR 314.3(a) “You shall develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive information security program that is written in one or more readily accessible parts and contains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards that are appropriate to your size and complexity, the nature and scope of your activities, and the sensitivity of any customer information at issue.”

These laws tend to be written in broad terms, allowing institutions some leeway in what specific measures they take. Regardless, robust information security measures must be established and rigorously enforced, both to comply with regulations and to [foster trust with stakeholders].

Best Practices for Data Security 

Since the laws themselves tend to be generalized, next we’ll look at some of the concrete best practices financial institutions and commercial printers can use to ensure data security.

• Implement secure file-handling measures such as firewalls and data encryption. If you’re printing things yourself, this may require upgrading all of your printers or hiring ongoing technical support to install, monitor, and manage the necessary tech.
• Incorporate digital and physical access controls. Modern secure printers may be protected by PINs, passwords, or access badges, but that’s not enough on its own. Any physical prints with sensitive information should only be accessible by approved personnel as well, and never left unattended in a print tray.
• Only work with qualified commercial printers. A [commercial printer for financial institutions] should be able to outline its security measures on request. These measures should include data encryption, secure file management, and physical access control measures.

How Wallace Carlson Ensures Data Protection

At Wallace Carlson, we take the security of our client’s work extremely seriously. Our online file upload system encrypts your data using 256-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), the same rigorous standard implemented by many banks and e-commerce companies. File access is user and password-protected, and access to our print facilities is badge-restricted and continuously monitored. With these measures in place, we can assist with printing and distributing virtually any type of financial document including secure personalized mailings, annual reports, tax filings, and more.

Are you ready for greater peace of mind when printing at scale for your financial institution? Are you interested in customer service that goes above and beyond, delivering impeccable results on time, every time? If yes, then we’d love to work with you! At Wallace Carlson, print excellence is our bread and butter, and we have years of experience assisting financial institutions in printing and mailing sensitive documents. Get in touch with our team today!