Monthly Archives: May 2016

Limerick Businesses Top 5 mistakes after a data breach

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secure document destruction limerick.

All organisations that operate throughout Limerick and Ireland will be aware of the risks of data breaches. The negative sentiment of experiencing a data breach affects relationships with your current clients and how others view your organisation. In certain cases your organisation may be legally responsible to your customers as well. Recovering from a data breach is a long but attainable process.

Our paper shredding service in Limerick value data protection and recommend the following steps you can follow after a data breach occurs:

1.    Enlist Expert Help
Depending on the size or type of breach you experience, your organisation may need to enlist external help. While external assistance is an added cost, you should evaluate your options with professional Incident Response teams to determine if an ongoing relationship is needed after the breach has been resolved.

Hiring a Limerick paper shredding service can help protect your organisation from future attacks.

2.    Elect a Leader
Managing a data breach is never an easy task. There are several parties within an organisation that will be responsible for resolving the breach, including IT staff and executive management. Electing a strong leader will help ensure all team members are updated and held responsible for their duties. Any external parties involved in the resolution should also have one point of contact. A strong leader will drive the response plan and keep the organisation and customers updated on all steps taken to resolve the breach.

3.    Communication Plan
Along with electing a strong leader, establishing a communication plan to external parties like the media can help to mitigate negative coverage. Data breaches are increasing in occurrence and major companies have also being targeted (LinkedIn & Electric Ireland).

Responding to these incidents quickly with a detailed action plan has proven to be an effective tactic for organisations to reassure partners and customers that the data breach is being resolved as efficiently as possible. Your organisation should consider drafting statements and other materials to release quickly in light of a data breach.

4.    Waiting for Perfect Information
It may be tempting to wait for the right information from your Incident Response team before taking action against a data breach. However waiting for the right, or “perfect information” can cause delays in meeting certain requirements and communicating to external parties like the media and consumers.

It’s important for your organisation to take action immediately after a breach. Begin executing the first steps in your data breach recovery plan, should your organization have one. It may also be wise to consult with an external partner to get started immediately.

5.    Plan Post Breach
Having a Post Breach Plan of Action is vital to the recovery process. Your organisation should release details on how consumers can contact your organisation to voice their concerns and monitor their financial security, if applicable.

You may also consider investing into additional security measures such as clear out shredding or improved technology to avoid issues in the future. It’s also important to update your internal procedures on managing a data breach, and meeting regularly with your team to ensure everyone is kept up to date.

Our mobile paper shredding service is available and regularly operate throughout all of Limerick and greater Limerick area. For more information on a confidential document destruction service Email us at info@securityinshredding.com 

The Data Protection Commissioner phone no: +353 57 868 4800

 

EU-US Data Agreement Allows Europeans To Sue Over Privacy Breaches

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Security in Shredding Data protection & destruction

At Security In Shredding, our confidential document destruction service is done with compliance with the EU data protection laws. The data protection commissioner is responsible for upholding the rights of individuals and enforcing the obligations upon data controllers. Individuals who feel their rights are being infringed can complain to the commissioner, who will investigate the matter.

EU citizens will now be able to sue over data misuse in American courts, as part of a new agreement on data security between the EU and US. It follows years of concern over the reach of the US National Security Agency.

EU-US Data Agreement Allows Europeans To Sue Over Privacy Breaches

The EU and the US reached a deal a few months ago for comprehensive new data protection regulations which will allow Europeans to sue over improper use of their personal information in the United States.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova made the announcement, saying that from now on firm rules will be in place over distributing data to third countries or holding on to information for an inordinately long time.

“Once in force, this agreement will guarantee a high level of protection of all personal data when transferred between law enforcement authorities across the Atlantic,” said Jourova.

“It will in particular guarantee that all EU citizens have the right to enforce their data protection rights in US courts,” she added.

The move follows years of back and forth between European concerns over snooping by the NSA and US worries about stopping terrorism and serious crime.

Jourova called the agreement an “important step” to “rebuild trust in EU-US data flows.”

The deal must now be approved by the US Congress in order to come into affect. Once in place, Europeans will be able to seek redress in US courts if personal data from their home countries is given to American agencies for law enforcement purposes – to control air travel to the US, for example – and then subsequently disclosed for some other reason or to a third party.

Data Security comes in many forms and knowing is half the battle. At Security In Shredding maintaining data security is hugely important to us. Our confidential shredding service must comply with the data protection laws while in operation.

For more information regarding data protection and data security, please feel free to contact one of our shredding experts.

Email us at info@securityinshredding.com

LinkedIn Data Breach In 2012 Resurfacing With Username & Password Leak

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Phising Most Common Data Breach

At Security In Shredding, digital data shredding along with paper shredding both require the correct forms of protection. Providing you with current information regarding data protection and data security is beneficial for our day to day operation and your business operation.

Back in 2012 LinkedIn accounts suffered from a data breach involving 6.5 million accounts which were then sold on-line through black market sites. Recent events have increased that number to 167 million accounts had their username and password hacked. The account details obtained are available for purchase on-line for approx €2,000

It is difficult to know what this data will be used for and who will use it. From various reports regarding the issue, password strength from accounts was inadequate.

According to the report LinkedIn have sent emails to the effected users but with the number of accounts hacked it is possible that not all user’s have being informed. Weather your account has or has not being hacked there are a number of steps you can follow to see if your account has being compromised.

What Should I Do Now?

If you have an account since 2012 and have NOT changed the password since then. It is highly recommended that you change the password immediately.

If your account is newer than 2012 then it will do no harm to update the password to a new unique one in case of a breach occurring.

Added Steps For Security

Updating your password is recommended and choosing the correct type of password is also very important. Follow these steps when creating a password is recommended;

Unique Passwords: All accounts, software and devices used should contain a different password. Avoid repetition with passwords. It is completely understandable that remembering all your passwords can become cumbersome. Remember the more you use the application the easier it will become to remember the password.

Alpha Numeric Passwords: Data breaches(Hacks) occur because people will and have used passwords such as “123456” and “password” and according to the report there were 1,135,936 LinkedIn members using the password “123456”

Use letters, numbers and special characters in your passwords. This helps create unique passwords.

Length = Strength: Most sites will have a minimum character length for password creation along with number and or special character required (varies from site to site) It is recommended to to have a password 15 – 20 characters long to ensure security.

Intel provide a password checker to test the strength of your password.

2 Step Verification: Most of the widely used sites offer 2 step verification login features. This is achieved by a user entering their username and password. They are then prompted to enter a verification code to enter to continue with the login. The code is sent to a user’s mobile or email (randomly generated code) account depending on preference. This added layer of security ensures that if a breach occurs then your account cannot be logged into without the verification.

Data breaches are now increasing in occurrence due to more and more people using digital devices. It is important that you are aware of these breaches first of all and that you implement correct procedures to ensure data security. Data breaches in the long can be harmful to a companies reputation.

At Security In Shredding our confidential document destruction and data security team are ready to take your call regarding any data security issue or data protection enquiry you have. Email us: info@securityinshredding.com

Why Is An Organisations Reputation So Important?

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Security in Shredding Data Protection Law

Any business in today’s market must maintain their reputation and paper shredding in Ireland is no different. Confidential document destruction is one of our main business practices. This requires a lot of work and knowledge to maintain but can be achieved.

“The reputation of a business is essential to its survival. The trust and confidence of the consumer can have a direct and profound effect on a company’s bottom line. Recently, the importance of reputation has become increasingly apparent; Reputation is everything.”

Because of this it is very important to protect the organisations reputation. So how do we do this….;

Research & Planning; Use the intelligence you gather to assemble a plan, and think modestly to start.

Monitoring & Listening; You should know what others are saying about you – your competitors and other similar businesses. Monitoring conversation is also important because it will help you uncover complaints and other problems that you might not otherwise know about.

Be Proactive; If your reputation has taken a hit, do not ignore it. Proactively build up a network and work on your reputation when there is no crisis. When an issue hits, launch your own PR campaign.

It can take years to restore business reputation; A study has shown that companies believe it can take 10 months to more than two years to restore a company’s reputation following a breach of customer data.

It’s a calling card; An untarnished reputation will display to customers, employees and partners that you can be trusted. This can assist in generating new business and holding on to existing clients.

Reputation loss is costly; To lose customers due to bad reputation can cost the company dearly regarding both the retention of clients and obtaining new clients.

Data breach connection; Close to 50% of organisations suffer damage to their reputations and brand value as a result of a cyber security breach.

Reputation is easy to damage; So Security in Shredding certainly don’t recommend any organisation to through away one of the most important aspects of business;

  • Dispose of confidential information into marked secure confidential waste bins;
  • Eliminate the mishandling emails or internal communications;
  • Do not use unsecure networks;
  • Not correctly destroying paper or data carriers that contain confidential information.

At Security In Shredding our reputation is hugely important to us. We operate off site document shredding and on site document shredding services in compliance with current data protection laws.

For more information please visit our site and feel free to contact one of our staff for any questions and queries.

Email: info@securityinshredding.com

 

Data Protection & Data Protection Service

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Data protection service AND DATA DESTRUCTION

In today’s world “data is king” and protecting that data is queen. A secure document shredding service provide businesses and organisations with confidentiality and security needed to ensure data is protected. Data breaches can be extremely damaging to your business reputation. Get more details about Secure Data Destruction

What is Data Protection? 

“Data protection is the safeguarding of the privacy rights of individuals in relation to the processing of personal data. The Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 confer rights on individuals as well as responsibilities on those persons processing personal data.”

 

How can I protect my identity?

  •  Keep your documents such as your driving licence, passport, birth or marriage certificate in a safe, preferably in a lockable cabinet or safe.
  • Regularly request a copy of your personal credit file from your financial institute to see if it includes any credit applications you do not recognise.
  • Change of address. You can register with An Post for Irish resident customers (or equivalent if you live outside of Ireland) redirection service to help prevent identity fraud when you move.
  • Be careful in shared buildings, if others have access to your post. Contact An Post if you think your post is being stolen, or redirected elsewhere without your approval.
  •  Avoid throwing documents away which include your name, address or other personal information. Bills, receipts, statements or even unwanted post in your name can be misused in the wrong hands. Where possible, documents should be securely shredded beyond reconstruction, to minimise the risk of criminals obtaining information.
  • Report the loss of any important documentation immediately – for example your passport or driving licence. Inform the organisation that issued it, and if stolen contact the Gardaí.
  • Check your bills and statements as soon as they arrive. If any unfamiliar transactions are listed, contact the company concerned immediately.

How can I spot identity theft?

  • Your bills and statements do not arrive as expected, or you stop receiving any post at all.
  • An important document has been lost or stolen, for example your passport or driving licence.
  • Transactions you do not recognise start appearing on your statements
  • Bills, invoices or receipts addressed to you start arriving, for goods or services you have not requested.
  • You receive statements in your name, relating to accounts that you have not opened.
  • A loan or credit application is unexpectedly rejected despite having a good credit history; or you apply for welfare benefits and are told you are already claiming when you are not.
  • You are contacted by solicitors or debt collectors for debts that are not yours.

What should I do if I think I am a victim of identity theft? 

  • Act quickly. This will help in ensuring you are not liable for any financial losses caused by criminals using your identity.
  • Identify which documents or personal information may be in the wrong hands.
  • Check that you are in receipt of all expected post. Contact An Post if you have any suspicions.
  • If you believe documents containing details of your identity have been stolen, contact your local Gardaí station to report the theft.
  • Contact the organisation who originally issued the missing document to alert them to the situation.
  • Contact other companies that you have financial packages with, to alert them to the situation.

Useful contact details:

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner

Canal House,Station Road,Portarlington,Co. Laois

Email: info@dataprotection.ie

 

An Post

O’Connell Street,Dublin 1,Customer Service Team

Tel: 1850575859.

 

Department of Foreign Affairs

80 St Stephen’s Green,Dublin 2

Tel: (01) 4780822 LoCall: 1890 426 700

 

Central Bank of Ireland

PO Box 559, Dame Street,Dublin 2

Tel: +353 1 224 6000

 

Security in Shredding

Ballyartella, Ballycommon, Nenagh,Co. Tipperary

Tel: 067 24848

For more information on paper shredding services and document destruction please visit out site at: https://www.securityinshredding.com/

Paper Shredding Benefits; Environmental & More

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Improve Office Environment Usage

There are many Benefits of Shredding and one reason is the environmental benefit. There are more reasons but in our lives, we use paper extensively in one way or another to record data. Even with the increased use of digital devices paper is still widely used throughout business.

Documents and papers used in companies lose their relevance with time and they are no longer required and one option for getting rid of them is to insert them into general recycling streams. But this is not an effective solution and creates data breach hazards as more and more paper ends up in untrained and unaccountable hands.

The other disadvantage of such an arrangement is that paper and documents used in a company contains highly sensitive information about the clients, customers and the company itself. If manipulative individuals gain access to them from a recycling stream, this can result in company’s secrets getting leaked to its competitors putting its survival at stake. Similarly the confidential customer information may get compromised resulting in identity theft and other damaging outcomes for the customers.

confidential shredding, clean desk policy

To avoid such scenarios, documents need to be destructed in a safe and secure manner. A company can achieve this by hiring services of a Paper shredding Ireland Service which will not only destruct documents securely, but will also recycle them. So the company can use them again in the form of sanitary rolls and cardboard packaging.

Confidential Shredding Service; On site & Off Site

A paper shredding service has security screened and trained men, equipment and transport facilities required for the secure destruction of paper. Such a service provides both on site as well as off site destruction facilities. For destroying papers on site, the service would bring its men and equipment to the company’s premises and destroying them there. Its personnel would maintain confidentiality and security of data and information contained in papers strictly as deeds of confidentiality are signed in order to carry out their operations. They have got the latest equipment which can shred vast amount of documents fast, efficiently and beyond reconstruction.

Security In Shredding on site service

Off site data destruction involves moving the documents away from the premises to some other place and destroying them there and recycling it. The paper shredding service would also provide an auditing facility, so the company can remain assured about confidentiality being implemented during the destruction process.

If you as a company owner or representative want your data to be destructed safely, properly and efficiently for protecting your important information contained in the documents, you should hire a reputed and reliable document destruction service.

By getting your paper destructed and recycled from the service you will not only be able to save your costs, but can also protect your company’s reputation as your sensitive data would not be falling into wrong hands.

Please visit our site for more information and contact us if you have any enquiries regarding our confidential shredding service.

Purge Your Data & Call On-Site Paper Shredding Service

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confidential shredding, clean desk policy

Are you searching for an on – site document destruction shredding security provider in Cork? It has become convenient, efficient and cost effective to hire a document shredder in Cork or nationally throughout the region of Ireland as Security in Shredding is providing its renowned mobile shredding service at your premises. It is a responsive service operated by technical professionals.

Destruction of personal data documents and digital data stored in devices such as hard-drives in front of the client at their location is a truly secure service for every organisation. Paper shredding Cork is one of the service providers with automated and technological advancing shredding machines that are operated by experts.

If you are working in an organization and have sensitive papers and confidential data which is no longer required it increases the risk and has proved to be essential to know what actually may happen to them. Shredding them yourself is also an awkward issue due to many reasons. Some major risks with in-house document shredding are;

  • High dependency on workers for all confidential paper and data destruction
  • Time consuming shredding task for employees which can cause conflict of interests.
  • Essential training is required for employees to maneuver paper shredding systems and establish what data to destroy
  • Lack of knowledge concerning paper shredding and data destruction
  • No accountability, in the case of confidential data breaching
  • No peace of mind regarding appropriate data destruction
  • The given organization is open to negligence in the case of a data breach

The responsive on – site document destruction service of Cork security shredding is serving their clients for the past 10 years and proven to be a leading mobile shredding service in the entire Ireland. The Shredding Company is committed to providing their clients with a prominent service of confidential paper data destruction.

An integrated business waste management usually includes data destruction services of Security in Shredding which includes confidential data destruction like hard disk, CD or DVD, USB drive, casino chips destruction, computer backup data shredding, plastic cards such as ATM cards destruction, and all types of tapes such as reel to reel recording tapes and cassettes shredding.

A professional mobile shredding service is now available in your region on your single call whether you require paper shredding Dublin or confidential shredding Cork. Responsive and expert staff are here to ensure clients receive the highest standard and confidential paper shredding services.

The fully automated shredding technology that Cork security shredding holds provides pioneering paper shredding services in Ireland to all the clients in the region

Paper Shredding Limerick & The Importance of Uniforms

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Security in Shredding Data Protection Law

Our data processing team operate a confidential shredding service in uniform throughout all our Limerick based clients. Uniforms also exist outside the workplace, Limerick GAA (the shannonsiders) iconic green jersey can also be considered a uniform. The reasons for wearing a uniform do have their benefits which are listed below.

Uniforms for Corporate Branding

Having a distinctive uniforms in the colours associated with the company can assist in the establishment of an impression in the mind of the consumer. Security in Shredding’s uniforms help to identify its employee’s as individuals who are associated with it and its services, and it helps to brand the company by distinguishing it from the competition. Consistency in employee’s appearance can create a positive impression on the customer and contribute to the projection of the Security in Shredding’s corporate image.

Uniforms for Portraying Competence

Uniforms can enable customers to identify employees eliminating the possibility of a customer mistakenly asking a member of the public for help. Employees wearing a uniform encourage confidence in the client by portraying the individual is a professional with service knowledge and an eagerness to help. A uniform puts the force of the corporate reputation behind the individual, making him look reliable and trustworthy as a company representative.

Uniforms to Promote Security

Just as a Gardaí or Army uniform identifies an officer, Security in Shredding’s uniform identifies its employees who are out onsite conducting a service call or delivery to a client’s premises.

Uniforms to Eliminate Dress Codes

Having a compulsory requirement for Security in Shredding’s employees to wear its uniform eliminates the need for creating and enforcing a dress code. Enforcing a dress code can lead to hard feelings on the part of employees who are told that their attire is not appropriate for the workplace.

Overall it is important to Security in Shredding that its employees are always dressed in uniform for their job roles and are neat and tidy at all times. Security in Shredding provide a professional and secure data destruction service nationwide.

secure document destruction limerick.

Your data security is our priority. We operate throughout Limerick and Limerick county. We also provide on site shredding in all major cites in Ireland. For more information on a secure document shredding service, please visit our site for more information.

Why Company’s Need To Address Improper Document & Data Disposal

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data destruction and collection service

Secure document shredding specialists deal with physical and digital data on a regular bases. How we handle this data is important to ensure confidentially. Confidential shredding and data protection go hand in hand to prevent data breaches occurring.

It is widely known that employees and hackers are biggest cause of data breaches. There have being high profile hacking cases involving employees inappropriately clicking on links that  permits the hackers access to the organisations network and software system.

In order to have an appropriate confidential document and data disposal system in place, you should firstly contact a service provider whom has ample experience in the industry with a 100% clean track record (i.e. an occurrence of zero data breaches). Such a Data Service Provider will be able to answer all your queries and concerns regarding how to implement a secure and efficient document management system – all the way to end of life documents as well as in-house training of staff and policies and procedures. “At the end of the day, you are relying on employees to manage confidential documents in a secure and confidential manner.”

privacy-data-security

In order for one to have piece of mind, a training programme should be established for the induction and on-going training (in-house) for the organisations employees. When the employees understand the importance of efficient and accurate Data Management and Data Protection Legislation; it minimises the risk of a data breach.

When the data reaches its end of life, it needs to be securely disposed of. This is where a certified professional Data Processor like Security in Shredding provides (at the clients choice) onsite and/or offsite data destruction. A company such as Security in Shredding are specialists in the entire area of Data Management. They have an unblemished record and provide a professional, certified and recognised data destruction services.

In order for an organisation to maximise compliance in the workplace, proper appropriate disposal of information has to be made easily accessible for the employee.

Security in Shredding do not recommend placing a recycling bin in close proximity to a printer of copying machine for example as employees can easily discard the unwanted copies or data into the recycling bin. However, Security in Shredding can implement secure lockable consoles throughout the building in specific locations as requested by the organisation and also in close proximity to the copying or printer machines.

If you wish to have a conversation with any of our Data Consultant Specialists, you can pick up the phone and dial +67 24848 or email us at info@securityinshredding.com.

Hard Drive Must Be Destroyed To Ensure Data Destruction

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harddrive destruction, Media Destruction, Confidential Shredding Service

All digital data is stored on a hard drive. Weather its stored locally (your own device) or on a cloud server, the data is stored on a hard drive. The device used to access this data be it a computer, laptop or tablet technology will become outdated or slow to use. When the time comes you may wish to get rid or sell the outdated device.

This is where the data risk lies. Before you sell the device you might have deleted all your local data from the device or even formatted the drive. This does not remove the data from the drive.

The fact is there are software programs designed to help thieves extract data even after data has been electronically destroyed.

At the same time, there are other concerns that make secure e-media and hard drive disposal a critical aspect of device security.

Current Storage Drive Trends:

Affordable.  Hard-drives and storage devices in desktop computers, laptops, servers, phones, USB thumb drives, printers, copiers, and other equipment have become widey available and affordable. In 2015, technology companies shipped more than 2.6 billion devices containing hard drives, according to IT research firm Gartner.

Internet of Things (IoT).  Digital data storage and usage is increasing in businesses and organisations. This increased usage means that more and more devices are connected to a network and can increase the risk of data breaches within a network. Protecting against these potential as data breaches are increasing.

Upgrading.  Electronics become obsolete (and are replaced) within three or four years – and that affects BYOD security and other safeguards. We live in a world where the number of mobile devices exceed the number of people in the world. When upgrading ensure that the older device is destroyed or the data storage device is destroyed.

Cybercrime.  Industry experts predict a continued boom in cybercrime. In America the terms of cost, the average consolidated total cost of a data breach rose 23% to $3.8 million in 2014 compared to the previous year. The 2015 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis from Ponemon also showed that the average global cost for each lost or stolen confidential record increased from a consolidated average of $145 to $154.

If it can happen in America it can happen anywhere else. Most of the applications you use will be developed globally and the breaches

Responsibility.  Data Protection is a corporate priority and responsibility. The Data Protection Commissioner is set up to ensure that businesses and organisations are protecting data correctly. The DPC also provides guideline on how to protect your business data from breaches. Guidelines can be read here: https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Guidance-Material-Menu-Page/m/219.htm

Secure document shredding and media destruction companies will provide secure method of data destruction. For more information please visit our site.