Document Shredding: ‘Destroying’ The Things That You ‘Value’

What do the following industries have in common?

Law enforcement
Legal industries
Government
Banking
Health care
Financial service (brokerage)
Entertainment
Technology
Manufacturing industries

The answer: The above-mentioned industries regard information as a very important aspect of their operations. They are information-sensitive – they have a need to ensure that important and confidential data are secured and protected at all times.

What data are considered classified? Some are listed below:

Disbursement records (Wages, etc.)
Accounts records (financial statements such as the balance sheet, etc.)
Sales receipts
Bank records
Social Security records
Business letters
Customer information
Personnel records
Computer printouts
Computer discs or tapes

Why is there a need to protect such data? Industries are in constant danger of having such sensitive information to ‘fall into the wrong hands’ – people that are out to inflict damage, such as a discontented employee or a competitor, which could result to either of the following:

Bad publicity
Humiliation
Loss of staff or key personnel (probably to a competitor)
Loss of customers
Loss of job or running out of business
A possible indictment

This is why every information-sensitive industry needs a proper and secure records storage and management. However, such course of action usually requires much room (think of all those years’ worth of papers and electronic tapes piling up); it also incurs high costs. In addition, there will also come a time when the company will need to purge itself of the age-old materials. But these outdated materials will still be sensitive, and throwing away classified documents in a wastebasket will not do the trick – they can still be collected and sorted out, the information still made available to whoever would want them.

There is a truly a great need for a secure disposal of sensitive data, and an effective solution to this crucial aspect of an industry is document shredding.

Document shredding is a safe and secure option for discarding restricted documents and materials. In document shredding, sensitive files and records are destroyed, turning them into bits that can no longer be recognized; thereby ensuring that confidentiality is maintained.

The document shredding process is entirely flexible that it can adapt to any industry’s distinct requirements in destroying sensitive records. Depending on what would suit it’s needs, a company can either purchase it’s own document shredder or employ outsourced document shredding services, who can then perform the document shredding process on-site or off-site.

On-site document shredding provides industries with the opportunity to observe the actual shredding of their materials ‘on site’, right at their doorsteps. The use of mobile shredding vehicles and equipment will especially fit those who do not want their records to leave their site intact.

In an off-site document shredding, the document-shredding company collects the materials in security containers and hauls them in a safe location that may be monitored by security cameras where they are destroyed into little pieces. Aside from the surveillance cameras, industries can also send representatives to personally observe the actual document shredding process.

Once the classified records are destroyed in a proper and secure manner, the document shredding company will then provide its client with a “Certificate of Destruction,” which notes the date and time as well as the accounting of the materials shredded. This not only serves as a proof that the documents were destroyed properly; it also gives the client the necessary data for an audit trail.

There are many advantages in making use of the services of an outside document shredding company:

A document shredding service enables the company to save thousands of dollars by not having to buy a document shredding equipment and not having to worry of the depreciation as well as the maintenance costs.

A document shredding service also enables the company to save in terms of labor. Employees would not need to spend hours to do the document shredding. Employees can spend the time more effectively by doing their own jobs.

A document shredding company also helps the environment by recycling. Recycling is the final step in almost all the document shredding process. The shredded materials are collected and, through baling and/or pulping, can be used again to form other items such as boxes and copier papers, among others.

We cannot deny that protecting the interests of a company remains a crucial phase of every business, especially in this age of information. And with document shredding, we are not only securing an industry’s information, we are also helping the environment – a win-win solution.

Developing A Document Shredding Strategy For Your Business

Creating a document shredding strategy is an important aspect of almost every business. Not only are there lots and regulations that require businesses to shred documents, but it is also part of running a trustworthy, excellent business.

Why do business is need to destroy documents?

Practically every business is creating and managing new paper documents every day and the list of documents that legally need to be shredded is constantly growing.

Bills, customer order information, contracts, employee applications, in-house memos, receipts, piles of mail, insurance documents, old tax records, payment records, account records and balance sheets, personnel files and bank records… Practically any document that has a first name last name address, and other information probably needs to be shredded.

What can happen if this information falls into the wrong hands?

Well, aside from forgery, credit card fraud, con schemes, corporate espionage, there is of course the potential for bad publicity, loss of customers, lawsuits and fines.

It is important that all businesses shred or destroy certain sensitive documents.  Law enforcement, legal industries, government agencies, banks, health care providers, insurance providers, financial brokers, and real estate are just a few industries where managing paperwork is crucial.  Not to mention hospitals, insurers, doctor’s offices, retirement homes, drugstores, legal papers.

So how can a business manage their documents safely and effectively?

A detailed security policy for every type of document your business uses is essential and employees need to know these policies!

For example: What are the shredding requirements for the various document types that your company frequently uses? What are employees allowed to photocopy? Who has access to files with private information?

Signs can be posted in the workplace and next to trash cans and recycling bins were sensitive documents may inadvertently be thrown out, un-shredded.

Also, whoever is overseeing the destruction of documents should closely consult with the company’s IT staff and any other department that works with electronic records and files to ensure safe handling.

Training employees about disposing of sensitive documents and developing a very specific policy about how long to hold and went to discard documents will go a long way.  Access to company read records should be controlled and restricted to a small number of individuals and there should be rules relating to records.

And finally, use a certified document destruction company that has a good track record.

For a more information about safe document disposal and list of <a href="http://www.document-shredding.biz">document shredding services</a> including mobile document shredding services, you can browse our services directory.

Choosing A Paper Eating Monster

These days, a home shedding machine is almost a necessity. With the constant barrage of credit card offers, bills, and bank statements that hit our mailbox everyday, it is no wonder that close to 1 million people are victims of identity theft each year. Whether you live in a house or an apartment complex, there are usually several points where your trash could possibly be accessed and documents stolen. The majority of apartment complexes don’t have secure trash chutes and it can in fact be very easy for dumpster divers to gather data about the apartment dwellers. In some apartment complexes there are locked trash chutes which are great for the inhabitants because it limits access to the dumpsters to basically the maintenance map and in the trash collectors. However, shredding sensitive data is not that hard, and might make your life easier in the long run. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a home paper shredder. Durability is important: You want a machine that is strong and will blast through lots of documents without jamming and without needing repair. Some document shredders are simply too weak, and will jam if you try to shred more than a few pieces of paper at a time. Cutting method: There are several types of cuts available, ranging from plain old strip cuts (the least secure, but often adequate), to confetti cuts which cut the paper into much finer strips and also cross cut, which cuts the paper in more than one direction. For most home documents, a plain old strip cutter may be all that is needed. The idea is to prevent a dumpster diver from getting a hold of your financial information, and I'd venture to guess that few to none would be patient enough to reconstruct a strip-shredded document. You can find a reasonably priced home paper shredder on eBay, at Office Depot, or in one of many online web stores. Here are a few features and characteristics of the document shredder to consider before buying: Clearing Paper Jams: How easy is it too clear minor paper jams? It's a little like putting your hand in the garbage disposal so you want to be sure that it is reasonably easy to get the machine running again because paper jams are inevitable. Safety features: You wouldn't want a curious infant sticking his fingers in the metal teeth of the paper eating monster. Are there safety features on the home paper shredder if you have infants or small children around? You may also find yourself wanting to shred items with staples and paper clips, CDs, credit cards, ID cards, and floppy disks...Some home systems are strong enough to handle these materials in small volumes and might be worth checking into because these are items tend to accumulate around your home office. Lastly, remember that some security is better than none: If you are on a tight budget there is one last solution: A pair of sharp scissors. Visit our website for more resources about paper shredding.

Data Shredding Basics: Is Smaller Really Better?

Just as businesses need to destroy sensitive data, so too is there a need to shred electronic data from computer drives. 

With increases in technology, it is simply amazing how much data can be stored in such a small physical space, and how often that data is recoverable if only erased using standard methods.
For computers, the equivalent of shredding is called wiping.  If data is wiped from a computer it means that cannot be restored by any means.

Data wiping can be accomplished by using software which overwrites files or by using a 'secure delete' command instead of the 'regular delete' command to the operating system.

Why doesn't just deleting a document or file doesn’t work?

On many computers and the many standard operating systems, simply deleting a file and sending it to the trash bin will not delete the contents of the file it all! It may show that new space is available on the disk and it may show the file as removed from the operating system index, when in fact only the reference to the document was removed well actual contents remain somewhere on the hard disk.

In fact, the file has only become 'dispensable' space and may or may not be overwritten by other newer files.  This allows for easy recovery of recently deleted files with various software tools or MS DOS commands.

Sometimes the files may be overwritten or partially overwritten and become unrecoverable, but there may still be traces, and with the right equipment and knowledge, much of this data can be mined from the hard disk.

The Unix operating system has a built in delete command which can be used, and there are various files deleting programs available for windows systems which overwrite the data repeatedly with random binary code making recovery extremely difficult.  It intersperses random binary into the files and makes it so random that it is like it is deleted. This is sort of the computer equivalent of shredding paper materials.

One not of caution when using data shredders: It can be possible that after files have been deleted the files may move location.  This may happen if the disk has been 'defragmented' and in some cases, may render shredding software ineffective because it doesn’t know where to locate the specific data to be overwritten.

Thus, many people say that really the only absolute ways to permanently get rid of data on the hard drive is the burn it, pour acid on it, or a degausser!

Disc encryption is another method available to increase the security of your data. There’s a program called PGP which can encrypt data before it is stored on a hard disk.  The PGP or “Pretty Good Privacy” is an encryption program for cryptographic privacy and authentication.  It’s pretty close to military grade encryption and can be used to protect data in long-term storage such as disk files. It requires a pass phrase to recover encrypted information

Other Data Storage Devices To Wipe:

Another device to look out for is flash memory devices, such as key ring size USB drives and memory cards. Data stored on these devices can often be recovered even after it has been erased. As of the time of this article there is no official method for destroying these devices. Overwriting may help, but pulverizing the storage is probably the safest option.

Due to the small size of these devices they are extremely easy to misplace drop or forget about… They are also easy to steal or smuggle. In Iraq hundreds and hundreds of these devices were stolen which contained sensitive data about US troops! It is thought that these were smuggled out in the pockets of Iraqi locals working and sold on the black market.

Care must be taken with these devices. 

While electronic data storage has become increasingly popular due to the minute space electronic files physically occupy compared to paper, people should realize that the extremely small size comes with a price:  They are hard to keep track of!  Sometimes, smaller is not better.  Electronic data can be harder to permanently erase, easier to misplace, and easier to steal.

Visit our website for more information about <a href="http://www.document-shredding.biz">document shredding services</a>.