Shredding Helps Your Company Avoid Facing Information Security Risks

Information Security Risks

There are many risks a company could face over its lifespan. The most dangerous risks include an information security breach, corporate identity theft, or the stealing of trade secrets and proprietary data. Managing confidential or sensitive information is necessary for every business to succeed. Identity theft, security breaches and the potential disclosure of proprietary information are all threats that most businesses may not easily overcome.

It’s essential that all businesses, manage the destruction and disposal of documents and digital storage devices in order to avoid facing these risks. Although this could happen to any type or size business, the sectors that are the most at risk for information security issues are: Financial, Healthcare, Educational, and Government.

It’s crucial for every organization to put an information security policy in place. As part of this policy, there should be regular communication sent to your employees to help them follow the confidential information disposal practices you have implemented.

Here are four ways your company can avoid facing information security risks:

1. Shred and destroy confidential information regularly.
   There’s a variety of confidential and proprietary information that every company must retain. Everything from product prototypes, price lists, and customer data, to client proposals, email lists, research data. If this information is not reviewed regularly and destroyed, your business could face horrible consequences. It’s best to implement a regular business records retention schedule throughout the year so that you may be able to avoid any risk of theft.
2. Review your business records every quarter.
   It’s best to have a regular review of your business records so that any information that can be disposed of is identified quickly and then shredded and destroyed. Thieves will look for all kinds of documents, and whatever important information they can get their hands on. If sensitive information is not disposed of properly, there is increased risk of liability for your company.
3. Do not recycle any confidential information.
   Although recycling is an honorable thing, some recycling companies do not properly screen their employees. The environment in which they work is not always monitored effectively, so there is room for theft. Recycled paper customers may not receive their order right away and your sensitive documents could be sitting in a warehouse for weeks or months.
4. Make sure you hire the best shredding and destruction service.

Choosing a document destruction company can be challenging, but it’s easier if you know what to look for. It’s best to hire a service which provides a certificate of destruction – this gives you peace of mind that your business is in compliance. Be sure to find a certified professional who’s is also accredited by the NAID (National Association for Information Destruction). That way, if an identity theft case ever surfaces, your business will not be held liable.

Hiring a professional shredding service will definitely help you avoid information security risks. If you put a regular shredding/destruction process in place, your business will be protected. IntelliShred has been helping businesses do just that for over two decades. We have been awarded the highest security rating, “AAA Certified” by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). Contact us today to find out more information on how we can assist you.

Recall Destruction Services

No matter how large or small, every manufacturer at one time or another is faced with a recalled product. Whether it’s a truckload or warehouse full of defective, returned or outdated merchandise, or something that lacked the right specifications. As with the proper disposal of e-waste, it’d be smart to reuse, or recycle the product in some way, however, it may not be possible to send a product to a recycler in every recall situation, because the process is not secure enough to protect your brand.

There are millions of dollars spent every year by manufacturers to protect their brand name and identity. When companies are faced with a product that has been recalled, it’s recommended that they involve certified recall destruction services. They can help you avoid the risk of corporate identity theft, or some kind of further injury to your organization’s reputation.

Certified recall destruction services are specially equipped to handle the destruction and disposal of recalled products. Their process is securely and efficiently executed and they typically will provide you with a certificate of destruction to be sure all regulations and approved destruction methods were used.

Here are the four most important reasons why recall destruction services are the best option for recalled products:

It will protect your brand.
Protecting your brand involves so much more than copyrights and trademarks. If your company has recalled products that did not meet quality standards, if they are not destroyed, they could end up on the grey market. When grey market products appear for sale, they can mislead your customer, ultimately damaging your reputation. Some specific items that should be destroyed are medical uniforms with embroidered logos, any damaged goods, discontinued products, manufacturing overruns, promotional merchandise, seized counterfeit products, and products with outdated packaging.

It’s the best way to limit liability.

It’s true that your company could be liable for defective and expired products. Destroying these products helps limit your company’s exposure to significant liability. Recalled products which no longer meet regulatory standards or standards of quality should be destroyed. In the U.S., the agencies responsible for overseeing product recalls are the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC).

Manufactured products that are most often recalled include:

• Cosmetics and Perfumes
• Handbags and women’s accessories
• Media including counterfeit movies and music
• Clothing
• Shoes
• Jewelry
• Counterfeit licensed goods from movies or sports leagues

Save proprietary information from getting into the wrong hands.
In this digital age, recalled or obsolete media products need to be destroyed to avoid disclosure of proprietary information or confidential data. Most electronic products contain embedded memory and the information stored there can be easily retrieved with special software. Trade secrets, formulas and prototypes could find their way to your competitor if these digital storage devices are not destroyed.

Achieve compliance with regulations on hazardous waste.
Maintaining compliance is essential for those companies that work with hazardous chemicals or toxic substances. They require their own special handling to protect themselves from the standards and regulations of the EPA. Secretly disposing of blemished, defective or expired products that contain hazardous chemicals could increase the risk of liability. In order to meet state and federal regulations, companies should look for disposal or recall destruction services which offer a certified process and are familiar with hazardous waste and recycling regulations.

These certified recall destruction services will maintain tracking and security throughout the destruction and disposal process. They typically provide photographic or video evidence so can be sure that your disposal is handled in a secure, efficient and environmentally safe way.

IntelliShred has spent two decades helping local businesses handle the destruction and disposal of their recalled products. We take pride in our confidential data destruction and shredding services that we offer. Our commitment to the highest ethical standards and practices, and outstanding, personalized service is unmatched by our competitors. We are members of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) and we have consistently achieved AAA Certification – the highest level of security in the shredding industry. Contact us today for more information about our services.

Proper Disposal Of E-Waste

Today, our environment is definitely in danger. The daily news is reporting on a daily basis that icebergs are melting, our air is highly polluted, and many animal species are now becoming extinct. In order to halt the unquestionable damage, it’s necessary that your organization tries to reduce its carbon footprint and reduce, reuse and recycle whenever it is possible.

Although there are various methods in which an organization should handle the proper disposal of e-waste, most experts agree that it should be recycled or destroyed in order to save the environment from further damage.

What exactly is E-waste?

E-waste is the term applied to old, outdated or broken electronic equipment that is no longer used. If it has a circuit board or chips, and you can plug an item into an electrical outlet it will probably be labeled as e-waste. The most common e-waste items include: computer monitors, printers, scanners, circuit boards, and cell phones. This year, the National Safety Council is predicting that 250 million computers will be obsolete in the next five years and cell phones will be discarded at a rate of 130 million per year.

In this type of electronic equipment, there are many dangerous chemicals like lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and even brominated flame retardants. These hazardous materials have a high risk of polluting the air, contaminating soil, and ultimately getting into our drinking water supply.

Why is E-waste Harmful to the Environment?

It’s not common knowledge, but most electronic equipment actually contains heavy metals. If these metals are not disposed of properly, they will contaminate the environment. In the U.S., it’s illegal to just toss e-waste materials in a landfill. There are federal and state regulations which require e-waste to be either destroyed, recycled or disposed of safely.

What are the damaging effects of E-waste?

Typically, when e-waste is discarded in a landfill, rainwater flows through the landfill and picks up portions of the e-waste’s toxins. When the contaminated landfill water gets down to the liner of the landfill, it leaches through to the groundwater below and ultimately ends up in your glass. There are enormous health risks that people can experience from drinking contaminated water. They range from kidney disease and brain damage to genetic mutations and certain types of cancer.

How to Safely Recycle Your E-Waste

There are plenty of options for the proper disposal of e-waste. You’ll want to choose a certified e-waste recycler that is committed to safely and responsibly recycling electronics.

Usually, your local government, schools, and universities may also have additional responsible recycling options. Because e-waste has become such a large problem, government offices and schools have specific days on which you can bring unwanted electronics to a specific drop-off location. There are even retailers which have an effective in-store recycling program. These retailers have direct relationships with qualified, respected recycling companies that recycling e-waste is handled responsibly.

Without the proper disposal of e-waste, you may face an increased risk of workplace identity theft. Protecting business and personal information is easier than you think – IntelliShred is the expert shredding and destruction company you’re looking for. Contact us today for more information on our services.

Workplace Identity Theft

In today’s business landscape, the risk of workplace identity theft is high. The damage that can come from identity theft could not only affect your company’s bottom line, but ultimately, its reputation as well. Most employers think they’re immune because they’ve got special security measures in place. However, identity thieves seem to always be one step ahead, so it’s crucial that your business is doing everything possible to avoid workplace identity theft.

There is a significant amount of damage that could be caused by workplace identity theft. Everything from bad press and a negative brand image, to a severe lack of trust from your customers. It’s expensive and quite difficult to bounce back from the issues surrounding the theft of confidential information. Businesses which store any kind of confidential, sensitive or personal information, could also be held liable if it is stolen.

Business owners have no problem protecting their digital records with encrypted software and password protection, but hackers can still break through to steal confidential information. Even if a company uses firewalls, spyware and other tools to maintain the security of their computers and media storage devices, they are still at risk. Safeguarding their computers will help, but what about their hard copy information? Sensitive documents must still be used in certain industries, so that brings an increased risk if they are not disposed of properly.

If those paper documents accumulate and aren’t regularly shredded or destroyed, your company’s confidential information could easily fall into the wrong hands. Even your own employees may end up being the worst identity thieves. It’s necessary to protect all forms of confidential information from workplace identity theft – digital, hard copy.

You could say that office shredders are somewhat effective, but it’s not productive for your employees to spend the amount of time it takes to handle large volumes of paper. Most regular shredders can only take in a few sheets at a time, so that makes for a pretty inefficient process.

By hiring a professional shredding company, you will rest easy knowing your important files will be collected directly from your shred collection container and shredded securely. It’s clear that destroying documents and digital storage devices should be a regular part of your company’s operations. Make sure you find the most reputable professional shredding and destruction service. They will ensure your items are shredded and destroyed according to the federal guidelines, and they will provide a certificate of destruction to guarantee the shred was executed securely.

An experienced professional shredding service will set a schedule to collect and shred it onsite at your premises. Documents should be shredded in accordance with NAID AAA standards and a Certificate of Destruction will verify the process has been completed correctly.

IntelliShred has been successfully servicing its customers for over two decades. We are able to provide you with efficient and secure shredding services that can be timed to fit your busy schedule. Contact us today to get answers to all of your shredding questions.

Sensitive Documents

Financial institutions, law firms and medical practices are usually the top three types of businesses people tend to think of when it comes to protecting confidential information. Actually, every business, no matter the industry or size, faces the risk of their sensitive documents being stolen.

It’s possible to steal confidential information if there is a ton of paper is lying around your office space. What’s even worse is if those sensitive documents somehow go un-shredded into a garbage can. It’s essential for businesses today to be mindful of how they manage their paper records. If they don’t want their sensitive documents to get into the wrong hands, it’s important they shred or destroy it.

Just about any form of documentation that contains a person’s name, phone number, email, or address on it is ideal for thieves to steal. Not only that, but trade secrets, proprietary research, financial records and other crucial data could easily be stolen – even by an employee.

More than 9 million Americans have their identities stolen every year, totaling losses of $53 billion annually to businesses and financial institutions, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Conducting a security audit and developing a comprehensive security plan. The audit should examine the facility’s vulnerabilities, looking for ways to maximize safety and security, and minimize risks. Most security companies will conduct this type of audit at no cost.” With the information from your security audit, you can reinforce or add security elements to aspects of your building that might be at risk.

These are two important ways you can help protect your company’s sensitive documents and prevent the high risk of theft:

1. Hire the Right People
   This is a crucial first step to preventing identity theft – hiring people who have morals and won’t steal. Performing background checks are only half of the equation, the other half is to call into question what they would do in certain situations if they’re hired. Criminals are aware of which organizations perform background checks, and they usually steer clear of them.

2. Have a Highly-Organized Office Space
   Everyone tries to maintain their office by hiring a professional cleaning staff, but cleanliness is not as important as organization of paper documents. You can save your organization from identity theft and eliminate clutter by shredding sensitive documents weekly or monthly. Organization also helps your company’s productivity – if the office is organized, then employees will have an easier time finding files and documents and it will be harder to steal files if they are neatly put away.

3. Implement a Shredding & Destruction Process
   Without a secure shredding and destruction process in place, you are not only putting your business and employees at risk —your customers will be at risk, too. Holding onto any confidential information like credit card numbers, bank accounts, and addresses makes those customers vulnerable to identity theft. Your organization could face severe penalties under the law for mishandling sensitive customer information. Hire a professional shredding service that will handle it for you – it’s the most secure and cost-effective way to dispose of sensitive documents.

Most professional shredding companies will help you create a plan for shredding and destruction. With mobile shredding capabilities, IntelliShred will monitor the process to ensure your sensitive documents are securely destroyed. We offer on-site and/or off site shredding as well as emergency shredding services. Our years of expertise help us renew with our customers because we’re able to successfully help companies protect their private information. Contact us today to find out how we can help your business.