Category Archives: Data Protection

Limerick Businesses & Organisations, ISIA Event 15th June 2016

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ISIA Secure Document Destruction Event

Weather its industrial paper shredding or data processing of any kind. Limerick businesses and organisations should attend the Irish Security Industry Association event on the 15th of June 2016.

The ISIA’s Secure Data Destruction division is delighted to announce the launch of its Guidance Document on Secure Data Destruction. To mark the launch of this guidance document, we will be holding a seminar on data protection and the secure destruction of data with an exciting line up of seminar speakers.

Secure Data Destruction

Is the theme of the event and leading experts from the industry will be giving talks throughout the event. Oisin Tobin (Mason Hayes & Curran), Jim Gregg (Irish Computer Society) and John Nealon (Irish Security Industry Association) will be the guest speakers of the event.

Who Should Attend?

Anyone with responsibility for managing data, risk or legal compliance would be highly recommended to attend the event. Managers, IT Support staff or anyone that processes data within your company or organisation would also recommend attending the event.

Those who attend will receive updates on

  • Your legal responsibilities under the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
  • The practical commercial application of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
  • Applying the ISIA’s Guidance Document on Secure Data Destruction to your business.
  • Managing the risks your business could face when holding and destroying data.

Event Details

Date:      Wednesday 15th June 2016

Venue:   Buswell’s Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2

Time:     10:00 – 12:00 (Regestration from 09:30)

Contact Info: email events@isia.ie or call 01-4847206

Security In Shredding confidential shredding service

At Security In Shredding Data Protection and Data Destruction are vital aspects of our business model. Keeping up to date with data protection laws is vital for our business to succeed. The new General Data Protection Act text was released recently and will come into effect in 2018. Knowing these changes so we can implement them when shredding documents.

Our confidential document shredding team operate throughout the Limerick and Galway regions work with compliance to the data protection act and data protection commissioner. For more information on shredding Ireland please visit out site for more information.

Limerick Businesses Top 5 mistakes after a data breach

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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 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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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.

6 Steps To Improve Your Data Security

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Data is King. Protecting your data comes in many forms. Your confidential document shredding specialist will securely destroy any sensitive documents. Data protection is equally important as data destruction. IBM are a leading High Tech company and provide you with relevant information and software to improve your security.

IBM Security solutions for data security and privacy provide a holistic approach that helps prevent data loss while enabling data access to support business operations, growth and innovation. These solutions help you ensure regulatory compliance, defend against internal and external attacks, and can lower storage and data management costs.

IBM Security solutions for data security and privacy enable a layered approach to achieving data security that helps you:

  • Understand and classify sensitive data: Understand where data resides, how it is related and how to define security and privacy policies. What data is sensitive and what data is not must be established.
  • Assess vulnerabilities: Detect database vulnerabilities and harden repositories. Be aware of paper data is stored. Add a lock to a room or cabinet to add an extra layer of security.
  • Monitor and audit: Monitor transactions to enforce policies and capture a detailed audit trail. Any printed documents with sensitive data must be destroyed once the document life cycle is complete.
  • Prevent unauthorised database activities: Block, quarantine or mask transactions that violate policy. With paper data limit who can access sensitive data management or senior staff.
  • Protect sensitive data: Encrypt structured and unstructured sensitive data, mask or redact sensitive data in documents and forms, and encrypt data in storage.
  • Manage access: Manage privileges and authenticate users to limit data access.

IBM also provide a free software for you to assess and detect vulnerabilities. The software will detect weak passwords, any misconfiguration on your database. Read more about it here: https://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/security-guardium-vulnerability-assessment  

While IBM methods deal with digital data the crossovers and similarities can be applied to your paper data. Paper shredding services will also offer digital data protection and knowledge. Knowing these risks and implementing the steps to prevent a data breach will benefit your business or organisation in the long run.

Technology terminology can be confusing to understand but implementing security measures for digital devices is pretty straight forward. For more information on a data protection and security please contact us or visit our site for more information.

Data Protection With Workplace Technologies

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Digital Data & Paper data equally important to protect

Your confidential document destruction service is more than just paper data destruction. Digital data also has a secure data destruction method. The devices used to view this data must be properly protected to ensure your data is protected.

Mobile technology increases workplace productivity. Smart phones, laptops, i-pads and other devices allow employees to work regardless of location. As good as these mobile devices are they also increase the risk of a potential data breach too.

So how does an organisation maintain the increase in productivity whilst protecting its confidential information?

Embrace it; The use of mobile devices assists the employees in their efficiency and productivity.

Latest Technologies; By keeping your technologies up-to-date you are ensuring that productivity is not being hindered by the use of out-dated technologies.

CYOD Policy. For improved security control, a Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) policy is recommended. This allows employees to choose devices from a list of approved choices, and companies could equip devices with the appropriate security.

Control of the apps. While apps can improve both the efficiency and speed of specific work tasks; Security in Shredding encourages organizations to provide employees with practical and approved enterprise-grade mobile apps for work.

Digitize. In todays world there is a growing number of organisations whom are digitizing information and processes to reduce costs. But all sensitive data still has to be properly disposed of when it is no longer required. Security in Shredding strongly recommend organisations to out-source the destruction of data when it reaches end of life. A certified data destruction service provider will securely destroy sensitive material when it reaches its end of life. Proper certified destruction guarantees that data cannot be recovered.

Cloud computing. While cloud benefits include cost savings, elasticity, and storage on demand, it still poses a great concern. There are a number of tools available to protect data in the cloud such as encryption and cryptographic tools. Click here to read more: https://ow.ly/hiVq30085uP

Train your employees. All the technologies in the world could be at ones finger tips but the users, in this case the employees need to be taught the best practises. All policies should also apply and be treated of equal importance in the office and outside of the office.

If you require any further information regarding any of the points above, you can get in contact with our Data Management Consultants either through the contact us page or simply phoning us on +35367 24848.