Is Cloud Fax Secure? Yes. Compliant? It Depends.

Cloud fax makes it easy to send and receive faxes over the internet with the same level of security and privacy as traditional fax machines.

Widely used in the financial, legal, and medical sectors, it seems compliant with strict privacy and security standards, right? While cloud fax can be compliant, it depends on the specific regulations you have to meet, how it’s implemented, and the provider you choose.

No question: Cloud fax is better than traditional fax

Because cloud fax leverages the internet and remote cloud servers, you don’t need onsite hardware, a dedicated phone line, or a fax machine. Instead, all you need is a subscription to digital faxing software.

Setup takes less than 15 minutes, just like subscribing to any other web-based tools you use. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Once set up, you can easily send and receive faxes within the software.

Many also let you read faxes you receive directly from your email inbox and send them like you would a standard email.

Aside from convenience and easy setup, cloud fax brings a range of other benefits:

• Send and receive faxes on any device with internet access.
• Significant cost savings, as you don’t need ink, paper, or hardware.
• Streamlined file management with digital storage and retrieval.
• Improved efficiency and accessibility for your team.
• Unlimited scalability as your business grows.
• Reduction in paper and energy consumption.
• Deeper integration with other business tools.

I mentioned in the introduction that cloud fax brings the same level of security, but that’s not entirely accurate — it actually offers better protection.

Cloud fax security and privacy

Traditional faxing methods, while secure to a degree, have vulnerabilities. Physical documents can be left behind for anyone to see and malicious actors can intercept faxes in transit because there’s no encryption.

With cloud faxing, you don’t have to worry about either — there are no physical copies and everything is heavily encrypted throughout the transmission process.

Even if someone is able to intercept a digital fax, they won’t have the key to decode it.

On top of that, you get a full digital audit trail of everything that’s sent or received. You can track every fax back to its origin, including the date, time, and sender or recipient.

Access controls let administrators restrict access to certain features too. Users can decide who gets to see the communications they have, how long they get to see it, when it’s deleted, and where it’s saved. Overall, there’s far more control and unfiltered visibility at every step of the process.

Two-factor authentication is another security layer to keep accounts secure.

The details of all these protective measures depend on the provider and plan you choose. However, cloud faxing tends to be more secure as long as it follows modern encryption and access control protocols.

Most cloud faxing solutions worth considering are capable of meeting (and exceeding) various regulations, including:

• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA):  Requires financial institutions to explain all of their information sharing practices with consumers and protect any type of sensitive data they’re handling.
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX): Covers secure retention and transmission of financial records for companies that are publicly traded.
• Payment Card Industry (PCI): Refers to 12 industry standards for keeping consumer credit card data secure.
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): Mandates the protection of student records.
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Sets strict privacy and security measures to protect personal data for citizens of the EU.
• Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy (CJIS): Established the standard for law enforcement and criminal justice agencies that handle sensitive information.
• Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA): Requires businesses that work with federal agencies to protect government data.
• ISO/IEC 27001: Ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data around the world. It’s not a regulation, but an international standard many companies strive to meet.

It’s important to note that just because cloud fax companies are capable of meeting these requirements, it doesn’t mean they do it out of the box.

In fact, most don’t meet these standards until you take further steps.

Many require additional agreements and internal policies on how you use the system, like regular security scans for PCI compliance, audit trails for FERPA, a data processing agreement for GDPR, and a security addendum for CJIS.

If you have to comply with strict guidelines like these, it’s your responsibility to understand them inside and out, and work with your provider to ensure your system is always in compliance.

What about HIPAA compliance?

Like the standards we’ve already talked about, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) exists to secure personal information. Specifically, it protects patients and the types of information they have to share with businesses in the healthcare industry to get the care they need.

What many businesses don’t know is that any company that comes into contact with patient data has to meet these requirements too.

It’s not just healthcare providers, dentists, eye doctors, and other types of specialists — it applies to everyone from law firms, subcontractors, software providers, and anyone else involved in the processing of patient data.

Every cloud fax solution requires additional steps to be fully HIPAA compliant.

First and foremost, you’ll need to sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with your provider. It legally binds both of you to comply with HIPAA standards.

You’ll also need to:

• Identify and mitigate potential risks.
• Train your team to secure protected health information (PHI).
• Ensure only authorized personnel can access PHI.
• Establish a procedure for responding to emergencies.
• Set up immediate notifications for data breaches.
• Restrict physical access to servers and workstations.
• Maintain audit logs that cover who accessed what and when.
• Dispose of hardware in a secure manner.
• Regularly monitor activity.

Overall, HIPAA requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to become compliant and stay that way.

Failing to meet these guidelines can result in expensive penalties, including fees from $100 to $100,000 per violation (up to $1.5 million per year) and imprisonment for willful neglect and intentional violations.

Aside from compliance, cloud fax offers superior record management

Rather than relying on locked file cabinets, you get a full system for controlling access, creating audit trails, and managing all of your documents.

Most systems include a robust file management system with searchable files and folders, reliable version control, tagging options, and cloud-based storage, making your records accessible from anywhere.

With the right access controls, you can specify who sees and modifies documents.

Plus, automatic archiving and retention settings ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations, securely storing documents for the required period of time.