A method and apparatus is provided for processing acquired document data, using distributed scan management protocols, according to a security classification of the data. A scanning device through which the document data is acquired includes a distributed scan management service that implements a distributed scan device protocol and a distributed scan processing protocol. In embodiments of the invention, the distributed scan device protocol and the distributed scan processing protocol are implemented using Web services. The distributed scan management service is configured to receive information for post scan processing instructions. The scanning device also includes a scan service configured to scan a document and generate scan data based on the document scan. The scanning device further includes a security handler service that is configured to identify a security classification for the scan data, and perform one or more actions, associated with the security classification, for the scan data.