How Shredding Protects You And Your Business

By Author: Steve Schlake
Total Articles: 4762
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According to a 2010 survey conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research, the ever-looming crime of identity theft is still on the rise, with reported cases at an all time high in the seven-year history of the annual report. Among the various kinds of identity theft, "new account fraud" has emerged as the most prominent. New account fraud involves a scammer starting phony accounts using a pilfered identity. Unfortunately for victims of new account fraud, it's also the most difficult kind of identity theft to detect.

As with other kinds of fraud, a proactive approach is the best way to protect against identity theft. When it comes to a business, increased attention to the security of your files is a powerful first line of defense. This includes things like beefing up the security of your network via encrypted files and data protection software, as well as enhancing the physical security of sensitive hard copies with office locks, alarms, and safes.

But even with all of your most important files and records securely under lock and key, you're still leaving your business wide open to identity theft if you're not shredding ...
... your discarded files.

To the experienced fraudster, nearly any kind of business records can be used as a stepping stone to identity theft. This is why hard copies of any and all files should never be simply dumped into a wastebasket. Even documents that feature only seemingly innocuous information like a name or address can be combined with other bits of discarded data to engage in things like new account fraud and more. This is why more businesses are arriving at the realization that if it's going in the trash, it's got to go through the shredder first.

If your business is a home-based or particularly small operation with few employees, you might be able to meet your shredding needs with a small home-shredder appliance. However, larger companies that regularly process hundreds of thousands of files are better off assigning their shredding needs to a professional shredding service.

At the most basic level, document shredding helps you ensure that your information never falls into the wrong hands. While this protects material like your company's financial holdings and proprietary information, it also prevents an assortment of other potential identity attacks.

Protecting Your Employees
Most employee files contain some degree of highly private data, including things such as social security numbers, maiden names, salaries, employment history, and addresses. All of this information in one a single place is a dream come true for identity thieves, and can easily be used to gain bogus credit cards, loans, and high-end purchases. Health insurance records are also likely to contain very sensitive information. Shredding allows you to give your employees the same level of security you would want for yourself.

Protecting Your Customers
Protecting any information you have about your customers serves a threefold purpose. First of all, shredding this data protects your own business interests, as a client list ceases to become proprietary once the trashcan hits the curb. Next, it makes sure that your customers' information isn't appropriated. Finally, imagine the fallout if any of your customers became an identity theft victim due to your carelessness; shredding is a way to make sure that can never happen.

Protection Against In-House Data Theft
With identity theft and related crimes are at an all-time-high, data theft no longer starts only after the trash is on the curb. An unscrupulous employee could pilfer discarded but unshredded files for a variety of reasons. This might include selling proprietary information to a competitor, taking one of your client lists to their next job, or even old-fashioned identity theft of a coworker or customer. Sending your files to a shredding service guarantees that the wrong kind of information isn't just floating around your office.

FACTA
In addition to all of these practical reasons to shred, in many cases you'll also find the biggest reason of all-it's the law.

The Fair and Accurate Transition Act of 2004, known as FACTA, is a law that actually requires business to shred certain kinds of information before disposal. Failure to meet these shredding mandates can result in a large fine for the employer. If your business uses a document shredding service, the service can provide you with a "certificate of destruction" as evidence that you're in compliance with the law.

So even if you and your business are never targeted by identity thieves, failure to shred can still wind up costing you money in the form of the large fines levied against companies not in compliance with FACTA.
About Author:
Most people who choose a new york shredding company are not aware that there are major differences between companies in terms of information security, price and customer service. At American Security Shredding, we protect businesses and their customers by providing highly secure, on-site and off-site shredding, to help them comply with HIPAA, GLB and FACTA, as well as all other federal information destruction laws.