Today most organizations, particularly businesses, manage a variety of different types of documents. There are confidential documents that should always remain protected such as financial information about the company and customer personal and financial information. Organizations that deal with sensitive and confidential information about their customers and operations are a major target of criminals looking to commit identity fraud. It can be financially devastating if the documents fall into the hands of criminals. According to Ernst & Young’s 2008 Global Information Security Survey of senior executives from a number of different countries, most executives believe that a security breach incident would have a greater impact on their reputation than on brand revenue. One of the best methods of preventing confidential documents from being stolen or lost is to implement a document destruction best practices policy.

Establish a Regular Document Shredding Schedule: Set up a document shredding schedule where the shredding company comes to the office with their shredding machine on a truck to shred your documents, or the company picks up and takes the documents to their facility to be destroyed. This could be once a week, every two weeks, or monthly. Don\’t let the documents accumulate in the office because it increases the risk of theft or the documents getting lost. As well it is important that you get your Certificate of Document Destruction after each scheduled document shredding.

Recycle After Shredding: Don\’t tear up documents and put them out on the curb to be picked up by the recyclers. There is a high risk that they could be stolen. Also, dumpster diving for documents is a common criminal practice so it is important not to put your documents in the garbage. Using a document shredding company will ensure that the documents are permanently destroyed before they are recycled. This will ensure there are no security breaches in the shredding process.

Regular Data Security Audits: Regular information security audits will help you identify vulnerable security areas allowing you to secure the risk areas and strengthen your security process. You can then update your policies based on your audit findings and it ensures you remain in compliance with privacy legislation and your own security policies.

Staff Training in Secure Document Destruction Procedures: It is essential that the staff understand the importance of protecting company information. As well, you should minimize the potential of internal security threats. Without proper training, documents could be lost or stolen so it important to limit the number of employees who have access to sensitive information and confidential data.

When you implement important document destruction security measures and enforce a set of security guidelines, you greatly improve the security of your business. Using the services of a reputable document destruction company is an important part of establishing a successful document destruction security plan. When you hire a document shredding company, you will free up your staff to focus on their daily work tasks and you will have peace of mind knowing your company\’s reputation is protected.

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Category: Computers and Technology
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