Security Reasons
Every business small or large and household has confidential documents that they collect daily. The day-to-day functions of any business will produce a large amount of information that could be used against the business by its competitors. This list includes; Internal Memos, Drafts of Documents, Quotes, Financial Printouts, Meeting Notes, Employee Records, Pay Stubs, etc.
Over $100 billion a year is lost to information thieves! Did you know that there is NO LAW against Dumpster Diving? After your business has disposed of its documents, it has no claim to its privacy. Unfortunately, one of the weaknesses of any business is disgruntled employees. Countless new businesses are started by customer lists from an existing business. An easily implemented security plan is the only way to ensure that an upset employee will not make a mistake that they and/or your business could regret for a long time.
It’s the Law!
Our MA government is getting involved in protecting individuals from information misuse. This is putting the burden on businesses and private individuals to protect the documents and information they are charged with. For more on the Latest MA privacy Laws. Violations of such law can cost as much as $5000.00 per incident!
HIPAA Regulations
In 1996, Congress enacted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Any business that is responsible for keeping any medical records or transferring medical information must be familiar with this law. HIPAA is a serious and violations can be costly
Environment
When you pay an employee to shred documents what is done with the waste? Most likely it is put into the trash. We recycle all of our waste materials and recycle 100% of them.
Did you know that for every 1 ton of paper recycled:
- 7000 gallons of water are saved
- Between 17 and 31 trees are saved
- 4000 KWh of electricity is saved
- 60 pounds of airborne pollutants are not expelled
Prevent Identity Theft
Identity theft is now the fastest-growing crime in the country. Most identity theft is done through simple means of collecting papers thrown in the trash. Simple strip shredders do not prevent criminals from obtaining the information they need to steal your identity.
A Sampling of Recent Data Breaches:
The concept of “data breaches” may conjure thoughts of malware, Internet spying, and lost laptops. But plenty of security lapses are far less technically sophisticated. In fact, many incidents involve the loss or theft of paper documents—not tapes or disks. These are exactly the kind of breaches that are most easily thwarted by a well-executed secure shredding plan.
As reported by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which collects, tracks, and reports on security breaches for the public record, a number of such paper-based incidents have made the news this year:
- License to steal. Nearly 14,000 documents related to driver’s licenses and state identification applications were stolen from two separate state offices in Michigan. The information in peril: names, dates of birth, addresses, and, in some cases, Social Security numbers.
- A painful medical-records risk. The scene: A dumpster behind the office of a failed eating disorder clinic near Buffalo, New York. Authorities found 15 to 20 boxes of papers with patient names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, medical complaints, medical diagnoses, treatment information, and other health information–a clear violation of HIPAA. When interviewed, the clinic’s former owner lied about the contents of the boxes and was subsequently charged with making false statements to a federal agent.
- Cutting corners. When office space in an Iowa prison became an inmates’ barber shop, no one bothered to clean out the desk drawers. As a result, hundreds of inmates had access to the names and Social Security numbers of their prison guards.
Each of these incidents violates some combination of federal, state, and local personally identifiable information (PII) laws/mandates. Unfortunately, such breaches only scratch the surface of the growing data-breach epidemic. The number of breaches not tracked or made public is likely much higher–all the more reason to put a secure shredding plan into motion.
