Tag Archives: offsite document destruction

Identity theft – stats, tips and how to protect your information

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Paper shredding in Ireland is a growing industry sector and for good reason. Approximately 7% of all adults within the US have their identities misused with substantial financial losses equating to approximately €3,000.

Close to 100 million additional people have their personal identifying information put at risk of identity theft each year when records from Government & Corporate databases are misplaced or stolen. It makes total sense to see secure, professional, and regulated destruction services being introduced and increased in Ireland. Services such as on site document shredding, clear out shredding, purge clear out services and off-site document shredding services are there for all Corporates and Governments to implement to protect your and my identity.

The level of sophistication used by organised crime to facilitate identity theft is ever increasing. Examples of such sophistication to name but a few are; tailored vishing scams, hacks of corporate and government databases to elaborate bots designed to hack your computer without leaving a trace.

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The more historic/basic methods of identity theft are still out there with high numbers of people being a victim of. Simply pick pocketing wallets, going through your waste bins for sensitive paper, following waste trucks to sift through the waste material for paper and social engineering to trick innocent people into releasing personal information still work and work well.

Within this article, I will highlight some of the straightforward ways you can have your identity stolen with the hope that I can help some potentially targeted people in protecting their identity. There are also some tips to protect yourself when possible.

How you can be a victim

  1. People going through a pharmacy waste bin, unfortunately not all pharmacies avail of offsite document shredding services and their bins can contain significant amounts of personal information.
  2. People hacking into GP records, health records from a doctor’s office contain vital personal information. Many identity thieves will try to hack medical facilities electronic health records.
  3. Never use your place of birth as your security question, it is easy to find out this information.
  4. RFID scanner, many credit and debit cards are enabled for contactless payments. Yes, this is convenient but if a thief can get close enough to you he/she can make a convenient withdrawal at your expense.
  5. Using camera phones, always be careful when you are in a situation where you need to show personal details and information, a camera phone could be watching you.
  6. Accepting strange friend request on social media, if you do not know who they are, our advice does not accept.
  7. Leaving bills in your mailbox for pickup, always deliver your bill personally
  8. Putting cheques in the mail, if required always place additional paper within the envelope so the data cannot be seen under lights.
  9. Never changing your passwords, you should always change your password at least once a year.
  10. Failing to consider once off credit cards, it is a good idea if you are not a regular online shopper.
  11. Leaving receipts behind, you should always take your receipts with you even if it only shows the last four digits of your account number.

For more tips to stay safe please contact one of our team at info@securityinshredding.com

10 Tips for protecting sensitive data in your Organisation

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The two main reasons why Organisations need to protect their data through hiring shredding companies Ireland or establishing security protocols are;

Reputation & Legislation both of which effect the financials of any given Organisation.

All companies inclusive of Shredding companies Ireland need to have some best practices in place to protect their sensitive data.

Historically legislation has varied from region to region within the EU which meant for example; a company receiving confidential shredding limerick may not be subject to the same fines, penalties and procedures as an Organisation receiving confidential shredding Paris.

With the new General Data Protection Regulation coming into effect the legislation will be harmonised across Europe. In 2018-2019 Organisations who experience a data breach through failing to have off site document shredding services in place will receive fines that will be subject to the same criteria as another Organisation may be in another region within Europe.

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Below is a small list of;

Ten Top Tips for protecting sensitive data within your Organisation;

  1. Ensure that all passwords are encrypted in nature. Do not have passwords easy to remember and introduce an encrypted method for password production.
  2. Protect against new malware. Constantly update your software to protect your Companies sensitive information. New malware is being released all the time so you need to be up to date to be protected.
  3. Eliminate USB Key memory drives. When possible Organisations should have a USB ban as it could lead to data being lost from your Company.
  4. Education, knowledge is power. Organisations are advised to run education courses for staff with specific responsibility for Data Protection.
  5. Be ready for disaster. Create a plan of action to follow in the case of a data breach. Fast and effective procedures for disaster reaction can make a significant difference to legal ramifications & your corporate reputation.
  6. Have reward systems vs penalty systems in place for staff. In an event of a data breach the key thing to take away is “what have we learned from this?” vs how will I punish the given employee.
  7. Be lenient with employee internet rules;
    1. A lock down scenario is not advised as studies have shown that it increases the likelihood of staff working around these sanctions while also putting your Organisation’s information at risk. Speak with staff, find out what they want and plan the best method of granting it to them.
  8. Establish a remote wipe facility;
    1. Leaving and losing mobile devices containing sensitive data is a growing concern for Organisations today. It is advised that you should encrypt all data on these devices and have a remote wiping facility.
  9. All confidential Information needs to be Encrypted.
    1. Do not make it easy for people to get access to information.
  10. Inclusion of staff. Include staff in all data protection control implementation. Do not depend on general information streams to effectively communicate the new rules and procedures in place, make specific meetings with the specific departments to effectively communicate your message.

For further information upon how to protect your Organisation from Data loss please contact one of the Security in Shredding Team.

Email: info@securityinshredding.com

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Top Tips; Why use a clean desk policy? (Onsite paper destruction)

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Why? (Clean Desk Policy & Document Shredding)

This is simple, if you do not have a clean desk policy and complete either onsite paper destruction or use an offsite paper shredding service you are increasing the amount of risk that your Organisation is subject to.

New Regulation (Encourage Onsite Paper Destruction)

With the introduction of The New General Data Protection Regulation this year, Organisations failing to appropriately manage their waste paper data and go on to experience a data breach can be subject to fines of up to 20 Million Euro in 2018.

With that said, the importance for Organisations to have appropriate procedures in place for waste document destruction has become a leading factor for senior management today. Examples of such systems would be an Offsite document shredding service, an offsite document destruction service, an onsite document destruction service or in-house paper shredding Ireland.

Security in Shredding Confidential Paper Shredding

A Clean Desk Policy helps protect your Organisation, your clients and your reputation amongst the general public. Within all Organisations there is data the is “Sensitive in Nature” and most business activities require confidentiality. With everyone in the office having contact with certain information it is essential for them to protect that data from unauthorized access. Your Clean Desk Policy will help reduce the risk of information leaking from your Organisation and increase the overall data security making sure all unneeded information enters your offsite paper shredding service Ireland.

In addition to overall security through ensuring all waste paper is destroyed through your offsite document shredding service, studies have shown that when employees are in a clean work environment their work efficiency increases. This productivity increase will translate to your customers increasing their peace of mind and in turn potnetially increasing your client numbers.

When a client is aware of your procedures they will increase their trust in your Organisation as they know that no data will be left unattended and all data no longer required will be securely destroyed through your off site paper shredding service Ireland.

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This is the third and final part of our three-part blog on constructing and implementing your clean desk policy. For more information upon Clean Desk Policies please contact one of our team at Security in Shredding, we are happy to be of help with this serious topic of Data Protection.

Contact info@securityinshredding.com