A blog from EO Johnson Business Technologies:
A loan officer prints a member’s financial statement, then gets pulled into a meeting before picking it up. A teller scans account applications to a shared folder half the branch can open. A leased copier goes back at end of term with months of transaction images still on its hard drive.
None of these look like a breach. They look like a normal Tuesday at a community bank or credit union, which is exactly why multifunction devices (MFDs) slip through security programs that already cover the network, endpoints, and staff training.
The short answer: A secure MFD for a financial institution requires users to authenticate, holds print jobs until the right person releases them, encrypts and overwrites stored data, runs on current firmware, and produces records you can hand to an examiner. The device matters, but so does how it is configured and who manages it over time.
Why are multifunction devices a security risk for financial institutions?
An MFD is a networked computer with a hard drive and an operating system. Every print, scan, copy, and fax passes through it, and depending on configuration, images of those documents can remain on the drive long after the job is done.
For a bank or credit union, that traffic includes loan applications with Social Security numbers, account statements, wire authorizations, and exam documentation. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) requires financial institutions to protect the security and confidentiality of customer information, and that obligation follows the data wherever it is stored or transmitted. The information security standards your regulator enforces, the Interagency Guidelines for banks and NCUA Part 748 for credit unions, address access controls, encryption, proper disposal of customer information, and oversight of service providers. An MFD touches all four.
What access controls should a bank or credit union require on its MFDs?
Access controls decide who can use a device, what they can do with it, and whether the device keeps a record. In a branch where many employees share a few devices, this is where your security posture either holds or falls apart.
Badge authentication tied to your existing access cards keeps this simple for staff. Employees tap to unlock the device, and it offers only the functions their role requires. A teller might print and copy, while a loan officer can also scan to a designated secure folder. Fax or USB scanning can be limited to the few people who need it.
The payoff is fewer people with access to sensitive functions, plus a log that ties every job to a named user. That record supports exam preparation and gives you somewhere to start if an internal investigation comes up.
When evaluating devices, ask:
- Can permissions be set by user or group?
- Does the device integrate with Active Directory?
- Can scan-to-email and USB functions be restricted to authorized roles?
How does secure print release protect customer data?
Secure print release, sometimes called pull printing or follow-me printing, holds each job in a queue until the employee authenticates at the device with a badge or PIN. Nothing prints until the right person is standing there to collect it.
That solves the persistent branch problem of documents left in the tray. In a financial institution, those pages might be a tax return, a wire authorization, or an internal audit summary, and anyone walking past can pick them up. Forgotten jobs also expire from the queue instead of piling up as waste.
For institutions with several branches, follow-me printing lets employees send a job from one location and release it at any authorized device. Loan officers and relationship managers who split time between branches can print wherever they are working without losing control of the document.
Ask how long jobs stay in the queue before expiring and whether they are encrypted while they wait. In a regulated environment, the print queue needs a retention and protection policy like any other data store.
How should financial institutions protect data stored on an MFD’s hard drive?
This is the piece that catches many institutions off guard. Depending on settings, an MFD can keep images of printed, scanned, copied, and faxed documents on its drive indefinitely.
Two protections work together here. Encryption makes stored data unreadable if the drive is removed. Overwriting replaces stored data after each job, so there is little left to recover in the first place. Deleting files or reformatting the drive is not the same thing, since deleted data can often be recovered with basic utility software.
End of lease is where this matters most. Your agreement should state in writing whether your institution keeps the hard drive or whether the provider overwrites or removes it, and how that is documented. That paperwork supports the disposal requirements in your information security program.
EO Johnson configures security settings before a device is installed and can apply additional hardening based on your institution’s requirements, so your MFDs match the standards you already hold other systems to.
What network security features should an MFD have?
Because MFDs sit on your network, they deserve the same scrutiny as workstations and servers.
- Port and protocol control:Unused ports and protocols should be disabled. If you do not scan to FTP, close it. Replace SNMP v1 and v2 with SNMP v3, which supports encryption and authentication.
- Network segmentation:Placing MFDs on a separate segment keeps a compromised device from becoming a path into core banking systems or member data.
- Firmware updates: Manufacturers patch known vulnerabilities regularly, and devices running old firmware stay exposed. If your team cannot keep up with updates across every branch, make firmware management part of your managed print agreement.
A standardized fleet also makes security easier to maintain because every branch runs the same configurations on the same update cycle with one partner accountable for it. EO Johnson’s managed print services apply security settings and firmware updates consistently across your fleet, so a device at a rural branch has the same protection as the one at your main office.
How does your print environment hold up in an exam or audit?
Configuring devices correctly is half the work. The other half is proving it. The practical test is whether you can answer an examiner’s questions from records you already have:
- Can you show who printed or scanned a specific document?
- Can you prove a hard drive was wiped or removed before a device left your building?
- Can you show that access permissions are set by role and reviewed periodically?
Your print provider is also part of your vendor management program. Examiners expect you to oversee the third parties that handle customer information, and a SOC 2 Type 2 report gives you independent evidence that a provider’s controls are working over time. EO Johnson and our managed IT division, Locknet, are both SOC 2 Type 2 audited, which gives your vendor management file documentation it can stand on.
Questions to ask before choosing an MFD for your institution
Speed, capacity, and cost per page still matter, but the security conversation should happen before you sign, not after an exam finding. Bring these questions to your evaluation:
- Access controls: Badge authentication, role-based permissions, and a full activity log?
- Secure printing: Release at the device, encrypted queue, and a defined retention period?
- Hard drive security: Encryption, overwriting after every job, and documented end-of-lease handling
- Network security: Configurable ports and protocols, regular firmware updates, and support for segmentation?
- Provider accountability: SOC 2 Type 2 audited, audit-ready documentation, and ongoing security management after installation?
For a financial institution, the answers to these questions directly impact your compliance posture.
Choosing the right MFD is a technology decision, a compliance decision, and a risk management decision all at once. The device you select will handle your clients’ most sensitive information every day, and the security measures you configure at installation will determine how well that information is protected.
If you are evaluating multifunction devices for your financial institution, or if you want a second opinion on how your current fleet measures up, we are happy to walk through it with you.
