A system and method for securing a data stream containing data to be embedded in a bar code. The system comprising a printer, having a nontransitory storage medium, configured to: receive a data stream from a host computer, the data stream having at least one trigger identifying at least one portion of data to be embedded in a bar code; identify each trigger in the received data stream; extract each data portion identified by the trigger; and print a secured bar code embedded with the extracted data portions.