FERPA Compliant Fax

Is your current fax platform FERPA compliant?

Securing student records is hard enough with aging legacy equipment, paper-based filing systems and outdated policies. Your fax platform should be the least of your concerns. Here are some detailed scenarios that could be causing your organization to fail in protecting the security of your students records and privacy.

You have a traditional hardware fax machine.
If you have a legacy hardware based fax machine your compliance is at risk for a myriad of reasons. First, faxes received on a paper fax machine are visible for anyone walking by including other students, teachers, administrators and anyone else in the office. Sending a fax requires someone to print off the records, physically take the documents to the machine and then fax the documents. If they walk away then these documents are available for anyone in the aforementioned list for viewing.

Legacy fax machines should no longer be utilized. They are expensive to maintain, break down frequently, require an expensive phone line and have the worst security of all fax platforms. What all these FERPA data handling requirements have in common is that they demand educational organizations to restrict access to any area, any hardware device, any software app and any hard documents where students personally identifiable information (PII) is found.

You have cloud fax but are not securing your fax platform correctly.
You may have a cloud based fax platform but do you have a platform that knows how to secure fax documents? Not everyone online fax company has experience securing fax documents. Sending fax via email, even if utilizing TLS 1.2 may not be secure. Email to Fax requires several complex security checks to ensure the messages cannot be intercepted en-route, victim of man-in-the-middle attacks or worse. Having a partner that understands secure faxing is critical in securing your fax platform. Our experience with HIPAA compliant faxing pairs perfectly with FERPA compliant faxing.

How are your Email to Fax documents stored in the outbox? How are inbound faxes saved on the email server. Are they stored on an encrypted volume? Ensuring your faxes are secure requires a team that has experience with secure faxing. Contact us today to learn more.

Your MFP (Multi-Function Printer) sends faxes. It requires a login and password. It's secure right?
One of the largest HIPAA violations (Healthcare) ever was because of a copier / MFP that was not properly wiped after it was taken out of service. Most MFP's save documents in memory or on disk as a convenience for the user. This kind of convenience can be costly if audited or if the machine is sold or returned and not properly sanitized. Ensuring your fax documents are transmitted securely via MFP or any copier is key to complying with FERPA and making sure that documents are not being saved somewhere else where others can see them.

Features

Through the assessment, design, implementation and support phases, our industry experts simplify your experience with technology so you can focus on your business. All Kelley Connect recommendations start with understanding your business objectives resulting in a tailor-made solution for your business.

FERPA Compliant

Secure Fax transmission and configurable document retention policies maintain student privacy.

Interoperability

Integrate cloud fax using API, print driver & MFPs. Replace legacy and insecure fax machines today!

100% Cloud based

Built in the cloud for infinite scalability. No more hardware / fax servers or complicated adapters.

Secure TLS 1.2

For transport and AES 256 Encryption. The minimum standard for compliance is TLS 1.2.

Frequently asked questions

Can we send faxes via Email?
Yes. But you must ensure the connection is TLS 1.2+ secured and that the mail server is configured to support secure transport. Email servers must also be configured to not archive those sent messages (if possible).
Can I receive faxes digitally via Email and be FERPA compliant?
Yes, but ensure that the recipient of the digital faxes is authorized to do so. Sending faxes to group boxes can cause data leaks and could result in information being compromised. It requires an organization to have specific data handling policies and making sure to delete faxes properly after they are received and processed.
What about our MFP or Copier? Can we use that to send faxes?
As we illustrated above. A Copier that is misconfigured can result in data being exposed. Our tools and features ensure that copiers are sending faxes securely and are encrypted en route even if using an older legacy copier.
Do we need an expensive fax platform to be FERPA complaint?
No, securing your platform is not based on the most expensive packages. Having a fax partner that knows secure cloud fax is key. Not every fax platform gives you this comfort. Fax isn't expensive. Being non-compliant is.
We have an onsite fax server. It's digital and seems fine. Why is your platform better?
On-site fax servers are 1) Expensive, because the cost of the actual fax lines usually eclipses our monthly pricing, 2) Unreliable over the long term. Many on-premise fax services are out of business, or require expensive support agreements if anything happens. 3) They tend to fail spectacularly and leave you no quick recourse. A typical on-premise solution is 3x more expensive than our traditional offering.
Our On-site server died. How fast can we get started with KelleyConnect Fax platform?
We can solve your immediate issue usually in one day. We can setup an account, have you sending outboard fax with a masked number (Will appear to come from your existing number) and initiate the porting request to get your old fax number moved over. In some cases your old fax number can be forwarded to a temporary number so you continue to receive fax as normal until the number port request goes through.
I have other questions. Who can I contact?
Reach out to Kelley Cloud Fax here to be connected to someone who understands secure faxing.