Shredding Articles

How the Data is Stolen

paper_stack According to the BBB, most identity thieves still obtain personal information through traditional means, rather than electronic means. Where the method of theft is known, almost 70% of information was obtained by dumpster diving and physically stealing the data, versus 11% obtained online.

One of the best self-defense measures businesses can implement is to shred information before discarding it. Even the smallest business can afford an inexpensive paper shredder, and staff members should be instructed to use a shredder to destroy unneeded customer or employee records.

Securing the services of a professional document shredding company can be done for a few dollars per day. The shredding company usually provides a container to be placed in your office. The container or bin has a slot to insert your confidential but outdated material, but it cannot be opened until the shredding company arrives to shred the material. You might want to protect the material from disgruntled employees, contractors, vendors and others, by placing it in the container until the shredding company can shred the data.

In fact, as of this summer, shredding will be required with the disposal of certain consumer report information and records. The Federal Trade Commission finalized a provision of The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 that will impact businesses of all sizes.

Report Details How Data Breaches Hit Bottom Line

The overwhelming majority of victims of a security breach blamed the offending institution for the data breach, according to a survey involving 1,100 American adults who received security-breach notifications alerting them to a compromise of their personal information.

In some cases, the confidential records were not shredded by a shredding company and in other cases, computer data was stolen.

The survey determined that 92% blamed the company for the loss of their personal information, 19% left the company due to the issue, and 40% are considering taking their business elsewhere. Another 5% are seeking legal advice for possible lawsuits.

Conclusion will be that not protecting confidential records by shredding or other document destruction methods will have a tremendous effect on future corporate profits. The relatively low cost of document shredding seems to be an even stronger necessity when disposing of confidential records. In addition to the customer exodus associated with data breaches, there are also a number of federal and state laws that now have fines associated with the improper disposal of or improper protection of consumer information, especially data containing social security numbers. Losing some customers will clearly be seen as too expensive of a price to pay, relative to the inexpensive methods of document destruction, such as having a shredding company come by and shred all your personal, confidential files and records.