Ensuring document security and privacy in transpromo printing
Art Seto, Jason Lisi, Mohammed Khaled Ahmed · 2009
Transactional printing and fulfillment is an area of the graphic communications industry that requires highly advanced informational assurance and security, not only on a digital level, but also once the information is printed. Financial institutions and other service providers exchange confidential information about individuals and business accounts directly with the printer. If this information were to be compromised, the consequences could be dire. The security issues surrounding transactional printing are even more relevant with the advent of trans-promotional printing, where statement information is combined with variable data promotional materials on printed account statements.Another area of the graphic communications industry that requires a high degree of security is the manufacturing of specialty products such as prepaid phone cards, where the card number and PIN (personal identification number) of the card must be matched and sorted in a database, and then combined on the card with no way of workers duplicating or otherwise pilfering this information. During the prepress process, sensitive information or documents may be transmitted electronically back and forth in a number of forms including raw database files, text information, page layout files, and as proofs. In the case of transactional printing and specialty phone card printing, post-printing security measures are also required. Sophisticated equipment is used to ensure the right statements go to the right people, or that phone cards are sorted and delivered to the right businesses. One security technology that offers the right ratio of security and flexibility to meet the challenges of transpromo printing security is Internet Protocol Security (IPSec). Using IPSec, transpromo printers can effectively protect sensitive client information as it is merged with advertising information prior to the physical printing of the transpromo documents, effectively protecting sensitive client information during the initial data merging process. As transpromo process continue to evolve, more research will have to be done to ensure the integrity of data security as transpromo marketing enters the realm of targeted digital distribution.