Tag Archives: Shredding documents

What needs to be Securely Shredded?

Posted on by
Reply
Document Destruction

No one questions the necessity of secure paper shredding for documents such as a person’s financial, medical or legal details. However, they are not the only papers that require elimination in order to protect sensitive data. If you are having a company come to shred on site or off site, for your own sake and to get the most out of your document destruction service, it is important to know what documents specifically require shredding.

Receipts

Sometimes they will include part of your account numbers or card numbers and even part of this information being leaked can give those out to do your business harm a leg up.

Job Submissions & CVs

Countless businesses retain applications and CVs of individuals they did not employ at the time they applied, but would consider down the line should the need arise. When this document is eventually no longer needed, it should not be merely thrown in the bin. It requires shredding as it contains personal information.

Old Bank Statements & Credit Card Bills

It is important to treat your company’s financial information as delicately as you would anyone’s personal financial information. When records are no longer required, it is time to shred.

Sensitive Information for Marketing & Research on the Competition 

This is information that you do not want to fall into the wrong hands. It could easily be misused should an employee’s loyalties drift from the company.

Old Utility Bills

These bills have your account information on them therefore they can be misused by those wishing to do your company harm.

Old Personnel Files

You are entrusted with very classified personal information about your workers. It makes sense to keep certain accounts of past employees as you may be requested for a reference however only keep the necessities.

Out of Date Service Contracts

Those that scam have discovered numerous methods of impersonating legitimate service providers. Allowing your old contracts to be disposed of incorrectly will give them another advantage.Always make use of your document destruction service.

Protecting your online privacy – Top tips (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on by
Reply

onsite-shredding-paper-shredding-comapny-secure-shredding

Image source: techgoondu

Unlike information that is produced in paper format that can be gathered and destroyed through document shredding services Ireland or an in-house on site paper shredding facility, information in digital format on the internet can be far more difficult to destroy and delete.
This article will go through the first half of our top tips for protecting your information online.

Paper shredding Dublin, paper shredding Cork, Paper shredding Galway, Paper shredding Limerick, offsite paper shredding service Ireland, off site paper shredding service Ireland, Off site shredding service Ireland, mobile paper shredding Ireland
#1. Do not give your info away inadvertently

Many people are allowing their information to be recorded without even knowing it. In order to battle this problem, it is always a good idea to configure your web browser settings to best suit your requirements. Examples would be not to use a personal email address or your real personal details that you do not wish to share.

#2. Use cookie management software or turn on cookie notices

What are cookies? Well, they are small amounts of information that web sites store on your computer. In many cases they can be helpful for example, if you log into a website regularly such as a customer login to a paper shredding company website, the cookies can be usernames and passwords to save you from typing them in every time you log in to view your confidential shredding service information.
Other cookies can be identified for data mining purposes that will track ALL of your activity upon a given website. Most of these cookies can only be translated by the entity that made them. Many companies that manage online advertising are simply cookie sharing rings that track all of your activity to effectively market and advertise to you. If you are not aware of the cookies, you cannot protect yourself.

#3. Have a specific email account for tasks

When you may be mailing to an unknown account or posting to forums or newsgroups it is best to do this from a second “specific” email address. Addresses posted to public spaces are at high risk of being discovered by spammers. If your email begins to get inundated with spam that you cannot just securely shred to get rid of you can kill it off and start a new specific email for your more public activities.

#4. Do not share with unknown people

In conjunction with the developments of the internet, new brief friendships have increased proportionally also with many people “befriending” people that they do not actually know. Be careful because you are allowing them access to certain information upon yourself and if ever meeting in person do so in a public place. Information that should not be shared with new people immediately include but are not limited to; your place of work, your full name, your personal address, your contact number and your date of birth.
In the commercial sector, be aware of “befriending” on the short term as it is a common social engineering form of spying to get them to reveal personal information.

#5. Study privacy policies and seals

When looking at any website to do business with you should always be aware of their details relating to data privacy. Points to watch include, does the site have a posted privacy policy, does the site have a physical address or postal address. Read their policy carefully to decide if they are an entity to do business with.
Online information and Data Protection are of serious importance and awareness is key to your protection. If you are not aware you cannot protect yourself. I hope this article helps you in becoming aware and in turn more protected.
We will cover five more points in our next article that will wrap up or top tips for online privacy protection. For further information, please contact one of our team on info@securityinshredding.com

You can also follow us on
Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+

Save

Save

Why is waste office paper not actual waste? (Onsite Paper Destruction)

Posted on by
Reply

sis-shredded-paper-photo-6

Historically and in some cases today people and Organisations have disposed of waste paper through waste recycling streams and have not hired in an Onsite shredding service nor an offsite shredding service for documents that are no longer required.

Within this blog entry I will be discussed Waste Vs Data (Liability).

Under Waste Management Legislation paper contains a European Waste Catalogue (EWC) Code, now this code means that the material needs to;

  1. Be recycled in line with The European Waste Hierarchy
  2. Be handled and processed through an Organisation that have a waste permit.

Having a waste permit does not mean that you are a waste company and in turn, having systems in place to recycle paper does not mean that you are a Data Processor that provides paper shredding services (I will cover this in more detail later).

Organisations such as Construction firms, Removal firms and Storage firms have waste permits in order to carry their materials but none of these firms are waste operators.    With this in mind, why would you release your confidential information that holds legislative fines of up to 20 Million Euro to a waste firm to recycle for you? Even if the waste firm offers “secure paper shredding services”, there is still no reason to justify releasing your data to them based on your legislative responsibility and obligations.

Off site document shredding

Data Processor Vs Materials Processor

A Data Processor is a person/Organisation who processes (E.g. Destroys) personal data on behalf of a Data Controller. A Data Controller is a person/Organisation who controls the contents and use of personal data (Any Organisation).

The key point to take away here is that Data Protection Laws only apply to Data Processors and Data Controllers. So, if a Data Controller (You) releases “waste” paper DATA to a waste firm to be recycled (Securely or not), under Data Protection Law you have released personal data to an Organisation who may not be a Data Processor and the waste firm may understand it as you (The Data Controller) has actually releases waste material (Paper material) for recycling. In the case of a data breach occurring here who do you feel will be at fault and who will receive the fines of up to 20 Million Euro, yes your correct, it will be you The Data Controller.

So when you are deciding upon what paper shred service to implement within your business, it is important to understand that you need a Data Processing Firm to destroy that data for you. If an Organisation is for example offering secure onsite paper shredding or secure offsite paper shredding they need to acknowledge that it is Data that they are processing for you.

For more information upon Data Protection and how to protect your business please contact one of our helpful team at;

info@securityinshredding.com

Creating a Clean Desk Policy (Document Shredding Service)

Posted on by
Reply

Onsite shredding service, On site shredding service, Onsite paper destruction, On site paper destruction, shredding documents, document shredding servicesBefore we go into the specifics of your Document shredding services Ireland whether you are receiving an Onsite shredding service Ireland or allocating staff for shredding documents it is good to be familiar with a Clean Desk Policy and how to implement it successfully.

What is a Clean Desk Policy?

Well it is exactly what it says on your Data Protection Tin. It is an information security policy where all staff are to maintain a clean desk environment. We are all too used to a scenario of coming and going to the printer, taking notes from meetings, answering phone calls and responding to emails and before you know it your office desk has sensitive documents pilling up. We do not always place the importance of onsite destruction of that data into our busy days and we often tend to prioritise other activities.

Well with the introduction of New Data Protection Legislation increasing fines up to 20 MILLION EURO the priority for document shredding services to be in place has become No. 1, whether it is an onsite shredding service or an onsite paper destruction system implemented it simply has to be done and done correctly.

Document shredding services, shredding documents, on site paper destruction, onsite paper destruction, On site shredding service, Onsite shredding service

 How to create the Clean Desk Policy (Onsite paper shredding)

It is recommended that all staff are made aware of the clean desk policy and the importance for maintaining their tidy environment and using your on site shredding service to get rid of unwanted and unneeded documents.

We at Security in Shredding constantly advice our clients to use our Triple “S” method for creating their clean desk policy successfully.

SCHEDULE your Day!!

First thing in the morning, all employees are to plan their day and/or make any needed amendments from planning made the previous day. Just keep things that are required on your desk and anything unneeded should be segregated and destroyed through your onsite shredding service. It will only take a few minutes but an accurate schedule is invaluable.

Document shredding services, Shredding documents, On site paper destruction, ON site shredding service, Onsite shredding service

Keep SAFE/SECURE!!

Never leave your desk with sensitive paper data left out. Most will have to leave their desks at some point during their day to fulfill their duties but whenever you do, file away anything no longer required for that day and securely destroy anything that is no longer needed at all. It is important to securely destroy the unneeded material through an onsite shredding service and receive your certifications of compliance.

SECURE SHRED!!

It is amazing how paper will pile up, just ask anyone who has completed end of year paper shredding clear outs. With this in mind, do not let paper that is no longer required to enter long term storage, whether that storage is in a filing cabinet, drawer of your desk of in a pile beside your PC, always make certain to destroy the paper with a document shredding service or an onsite paper shredding service.

Document shredding services, shredding documents, On site paper destruction, Onsite paper destruction, On site shredding service, Onsite shredding service

For more information upon our Clean Desk Policy and tips as to how to create one please contact one of our team, we are always here to help with your Data Protection concerns.

Contact www.info@securityinshredding.com

Save

Save