Whether you are an individual or a business, one thing is vital in ensuring your sensitive details are kept safe: shred them! Identity fraud is now an established and growing criminal activity. Intact or poorly disposed of documents and data can easily be stolen during burglaries, found in domestic bins or on public dump sites, and used almost instantly without you even knowing someone else knows your personal information.

Household Shredding

Many homes and offices now have their own shredders. This is effective to a degree but not 100% effective or safe. This is partly because the cheapest and most popular shredders “strip cut” documents, which is the least secure type of shredding.

Shredded documents are often put straight into a bin. The shreds can easily be retrieved and, contrary to popular belief, painstakingly restored. This is made easier if the shreds don’t run perpendicular to the text.

Professional Shredding

Many people prefer to use professional shredders because they provide a very secure service, and for businesses, there is much less office noise and dust.

Instead of using strip cut shredders, professionals will use a variety of very effective shredders such as cross-cut shredders, which use two rotating cutters to create confetti-like shreds, or micro-cut shredders, which shreds paper into particles so small that the shreds are almost like dust.

On-Site or Off-Site?

There are two types of professional shredding services: off-site and on-site.

Off-site shredding is where the sensitive items are delivered to a shredding facility where the work is carried out. Most professional shredding companies provide a good service, but off-site is not the most secure. Documents and other materials may change hands a few times before reaching the shredding facility, which poses a security risk. Also, once the material has been picked up, where is the guarantee that it will be shredded satisfactorily?

On-site shredding offers the most secure service. Shredding trucks visit homes or businesses, collect the material from special lockable bins, and destroy it on the premises. Patrons can actually see their personal data being destroyed, and are immediately issued with a certificate confirming shredding.

Professional shredding companies also contribute to the environment by recycling all shredded materials.

What to Shred?

It’s not just paper that can be shredded and recycled. Governments and law enforcement advise that anything with a signature should be shredded, also old cards or passports, approved credit card applications, legal documents, bills and statements.

Industrial shredders can shred almost anything that can be used for identity fraud, not just paper documents. Anything from CDs, DVDs, hard drives, credit cards, uniforms, magnetic media, video tapes, and faulty goods should be considered potential ammunition for identity fraudsters.

Legal Requirements

Responsible businesses are diligent about what information they keep. Sensitive information such as personnel files, financial records, product proposals, legal documents and contracts, should be made as secure as possible to prevent identity fraud, humiliation, potential loss of customers, and industrial espionage.

Some businesses have been sued for breach of confidentiality after sensitive information was stolen and used for criminal purposes. Hence, Data Protection Acts around the world are regularly being tightened up to ensure that personal and business information that is no longer required must be destroyed.

Harry Young works for Toltech Internet Solutions and writes on behalf of On Site Shredding LTD – Scotland’s premier mobile on site document shredding company. Offering a wide range of shredding services including documents, CDs, DVDs, hard drives, credit cards, magnetic media, video tapes.

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