By their very nature, practices in the legal field are held to stringent compliance regulations that govern not only the data generated by the law firms, but also client-generated information.

For example, if a firm is working with a healthcare provider, sensitive medical records may be handled as part of the case causing the firm to be held to data privacy standards that govern medical records, such as Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act (HIPAA).

Other compliance regulations that law firms may have to consider in the course of their work include:

· Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

· Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA)

· Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)

· Federal Reserve System

· Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

These compliance guidelines apply to law firms in a “third-party risk” scenario, where a firm handling sensitive data for a healthcare or financial client, for example, may pose a risk to the client’s reputation, operations, and more if data is handled incorrectly.

For law firms, much of this data is handled in paper form, as law is considered one of the most paper-heavy industries. With one attorney using 100,000 sheets of paper a year during the printing and copying documents, there is a lot of room for data theft and loss.

Legal firms wishing to remain in strict compliance with regulatory guidelines need comprehensive and secure cybersecurity practices onboard — particularly regarding printing and print output.

A strong print management program can not only protect data throughout the print lifecycle, but it can also ensure your firm stays compliant with appropriate data privacy regulations.

Print Management for Data Security and Compliance

Many law firms spend money on protecting digital data, and yet a document left in the output tray of a printer can spell disaster for both security and compliance.

Additionally, documents that are scanned on a multifunction print device (MFP) and transmitted, such as credit card or bank account numbers must be handled in a way compliant with PCI DSS standards, while medical data will be subject to HIPAA compliance.

To address all these issues in a paper-heavy environment such as that which exists in the legal field, a robust print management program is essential.

How Print Management Ensures Equipment is Regulation-Compliant

Many manufacturers of printing and copying equipment are creating devices with built-in compliance protections. Some, like Konica-Minolta’s bizhub, provide overarching safeguards to protect data at every point in the print lifecycle.

Typical protections include:

· Hard drive lock passwords

· Automatic deletion of temporary image data

· Timed and automatic overwrites of electronic documents in the print queue

· Hard drive encryption

Other security measures are security stamps such as overlay images or watermarks to protect printed materials and the ability to ID unauthorized copies through their time, date, or MFP serial numbers.

Pull printing, or holding a print job on the server until a user with authorized credentials arrives at the machine, ensures sensitive data is not left lying around in an output tray for anyone to grab.

In addition, some machines provide automated alerts when suspicious activity is detected, additional, use authentication protocols, and a host of other powerful security features to keep your print data protected.

Let Blue Technologies Provide Compliant Print Management for Your Firm

Blue Technologies has partnered with industry leading printer manufacturers Konica Minolta and Lexmark to bring advanced innovation and security to your law firm.

Our print management experts will assess your firm’s print needs and compliance goals to develop a secure fleet that will keep your data as secure and compliant as possible with applicable regulations.

For extra protection, consider our BlueProtect service — a 24/7 remote monitoring solution that puts the talent and expertise of IT security experts behind your entire organization to head off data breaches and ensure your equipment is up and running.

Keep your law firm’s print data safe and secure with a custom-tailored print management solution. Contact a Blue Technologies consultant today and learn the advantages of our top-level security solutions.