Shredding News

New Year’s is a time for making resolutions – be it to lose weight, achieve specific goals at home and work, and basic improvements. One thing everybody should resolve to do is to ensure the safety of their identities from thieves, and one should definitely not wait to start.

Tips to Stay Safe on the Internet in the New Year

What can you do to ensure nobody steals your identity, and in turn money and other important information? Once the new year arrives, you need to take care to note which of your credit cards are due to expire, and which payments – for cars or other objects you have financed – will complete. It is necessary to collect statements, cards, and paperwork on other expired financial data and have them shredded beyond recognition. Closer to tax time, shredding companies may schedule a public event for people to get rid of unused information. Even if the accounts and bank information is invalid, it is important to render everything illegible. Identity thieves don’t necessary need valid info to cause trouble – a Social Security number, once obtained, can assist a thief in creating new accounts in your name, from which they can apply for credit cards and spend until the creditors come calling.

If you are a fan of Internet shopping, try to limit purchases to one credit card, or to a Paypal or Google Checkout account (provided you don’t keep too much money there). Where possible, keep spending only to trustworthy, marketplace sites that offer a variety of things, rather than spread your information too thinly.

Above all else, be judicious of where your information is sent, and you can look forward to a new year feeling safe.

For those in the Internet industry, be it website design and development, programming, or ISP services, you may not think a company that deals in online commerce generates much paperwork. However, you will be very much surprised to see how high the stacks in the office rise. As you acquire contracts, invoices and bills, and other documents associated with your work, the necessity of having a shredding service nearby becomes all the more important. To ensure the safety of your employees and clients, hiring a professional to take care of your paper is the best way to go.

You could make the investment on an in-office shredder to handle expired documents and sensitive data, but consider this: even if the machine you buy does a competent job of destroying paperwork so that it’s illegible, what do you do with the shreddings? You might you can toss them in a Dumpster and not worry about office security, but do you want to take that chance? An identity thief is nothing if not crafty, and if he thinks there is something in your shred pile worth using he will work to get to it.

Also, many in-office shredders suitable for a small budget will only destroy paper. As an Internet business, you likely go through disks and CDs, hard drives and flash drives that eventually become obsolete. It is important to have them properly disposed of so hackers won’t obtain private data for their use.

A professional shredding service normally offers paper and hard drive services for small businesses. Licensed and bonded, their workers will take your data and recycle them accordingly, so that your information is kept safe and you can worry about business.

Contact local shredding companies about regular services for your private data, and keep your Internet business safe.

As a business owner, you understand the necessity of shredding outdated and sensitive information to keep your company, and your clients, safe from identity thieves. Perhaps you have taken that first important step in contacting a professional shredder to handle document and hard drive destruction. This is a good move, in that it helps ensure that your materials will be properly disposed of, with the paper recycled beyond original recognition. With the appointment made, now, you need only prepare for the actual event.

Here are a few tips to ensure your shredding goes smoothly.

Gather everything ahead of time. Don’t wait until the day of the shredding to get the material together. Some professional shredders may visit more than one business in a day, and may work on tight schedules. Give yourself time to collect everything that needs to go and place the material in a safe place.

Sort your material. When you make an appointment with a shredding company, you may receive information on what can and cannot be destroyed by their equipment. If you have hard drives and floppy disks in addition to paperwork, you may wish to keep things separate to accommodate the shredder. Some shred machines may not take binder clips or brads, so you want to make certain these are removed so equipment is not damaged.

Check with your employees. Have your workers do routine checks to clear away the clutter – this is a good practice, too, for security of your company and clientele. Should ever an employee leave, you want to ensure all proprietary data is left behind and, if needed, destroyed.

The more thorough you are in preparing your office for a shredding day, the more secure your business will be.

There may come a time when, if your business has outgrown the offices you’ve enjoyed for many years, you must contemplate relocating to another complex. You gain employees or inventory, and require more space to breathe and work properly. It happens, and while this is a positive sign for your future the idea of having to pack everything and lug it somewhere else proves a monster headache. Luckily, this presents the ideal time to clean house, and dispose of outdated materials.

As you prepare to relocate your offices, you know it’s important to contact different people. The post office must be informed to forward mail. Clients and advertising sources have to note the new address, and of course you need movers. As you go down the contact list, be sure to add a quality document shredder that specializes in bulk paper and hard drive destruction. You will find shredding before you move takes some pressure off your employees during the transition. There is less to move, and you have the opportunity to witness a secure method of document destruction that protects yourself, your workers, and your customers.

When you settle on a moving date, plan to arrange a mass shredding of unused and stored data about a week before you leave. Choose a company that is licensed and bonded, with truck-mounted equipment that comes to you, so you don’t have to double your work load. A reputable shredder will allow you to watch every step in the process and present you with documentation confirming your materials are no longer usable.

Moving presents not only the chance to grow, but to clean house. Add document shredding to your list of to-do’s before you relocate.

Even in the digital age, as we perceive technology to last forever, there comes a time when businesses must consider replacing old equipment with newer models. Computer hard drives, CD-ROMs and floppy disks may often contain data that is no longer valid, and the hardware is basically useless. A business manager may be inclined to simply erase any material contained, but in truth this is not exactly a secure method of destruction. For the security of your company, any and all uneeded software and components must be completely obliterated.

Why is it a good idea to thoroughly destroy computers no longer in use? One might think erasing something off a disk or hard drive means the end of that data, but actually there are ways to retrieve lost documents and information. It wouldn’t take much for a computer whiz to get hold of a disc or hard drive with sensitive info on your company, so you want to be sure to physically render everything unreadable. One might be tempted to just take a sledgehammer to a hard drive and hope for the best, but an industrial shredding company is the key to ensuring the security of your workplace.

Shredding companies that handle large paper jobs for companies may also offer services that destroy computer components and salvage usable parts for recycling. If you are certain you need hardware eliminated, consult with a local business shredding service to see if they have the equipment to handle the job. Knowing nobody can get to your data makes for better peace of mind.

When you think of shredding documents to keep your identity and financial records safe, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a small device for the home office. Perhaps it connects to a waste basket that collects all the paper strips, and you use it once or twice a month when you clean out your invalid and expired financial papers and statements. Afterward, maybe you divide the paper ribbons into smaller piles so as to further ensure your security, and either throw everything away or have it recycled. This is one good way to help keep your information – like your Social Security number and your bank accounts – away from curious eyes, but is it really the best solution for you?

These days, smaller businesses and individuals with large amounts of paper to shred have turned to mobile shredding services to clear the clutter and protect their interests. In just minutes, a mobile shredder can destroy several file boxes of paper and even hardware like USB drives, floppy discs, and removable hard drives. The more you have going to a shredder, the better your name and financial situation is protected. Companies with mobile options for destruction offer perhaps the most sound and secure services.

Why is this so? Let’s consider the process of shredding. If you were to go to a shredding business in town, you’ll have to pack your and make sure everything in there. You run the risk of a paper or two sliding out into your car or the street, where it can be easily picked up and used for dubious purposes. A mobile service, by contrast, comes to you. A large truck using state of the art equipment drives to your place of business or home, and a bonded employee handles your items.

You witness the actual destruction of your refuse. The mobile service that comes to your home or workplace typically has state of the art shredding equipment inside, so your paper doesn’t go anywhere else. The service usually gives you certification of the shredding, and what is left over is taken to be recycled and seen by nobody else. Your bank account numbers, employee and medical records, and other sensitive data is secured.

Mobile shredding offers you the peace of mind that the risk of identity theft is greatly decreased for you. Consider calling a reputable service in your area today to handle your document destruction.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, at least this is what we’re led to believe if we choose to live by old wives’ tales. To think of “treasure” in a trash can, though, one might first picture an object that’s been thrown away like used furniture or an old toy that can be refurbished. You might not imagine that a discarded bank or credit card statement could be considered treasure to some. In truth, it offers a goldmine to identity thieves, but the personal information provides them with a means to steal your name, reputation, and money.

When you carelessly toss away personal documents – regardless of how worthless they appear to you – it is important to make sure the words printed there are completely illegible. You need to do this in order to protect your identity, your credit score, and anything that identifies with you. Why? Even with a simple bank statement, an identity thief can glean enough information to cause you trouble.

Consider this: if you were to toss away your trash without shredding the important documents thoroughly, somebody can pick up the papers and try to assume your name. If said thief knows of a way to obtain credit through a store or bank using what information you provided in the trash, that thief can get a card and start charging up a hefty debt. The bills, of course, go to you, and the onus is on you to prove that you are the victim.

Identity thieves cannot operate if you give them no ammunition, so before you make that trip to the recycling center consider instead a call to your local shredding service. Whether you work for yourself or have collected financial data over the years, you need a sound system for destroying receipts, statements, and unused credit cards.

Mobile shredding provides the best option for identity protection in that the shredding services comes to your home or place of business and handles the document destruction, and you can watch the process for yourself to confirm. Find a service where the employees are bonded, one recommended by friends or colleagues. Most reputable shredding services, will recycle the refuse for you, leaving you with the peace of mind that nobody else will see this information.

Don’t let your trash bring treasure to an identity thief. Take precautions to properly shred your documents so you and your family remain safe.

When you have the opportunity to take your personal documents to be shredded, you can decrease the risk of having your identity stolen by thieves who will apply for credit cards in your name. It is important to ensure that none of your important papers with personal information are made available to people who may try to take advantage of you. Therefore, when you meet with a professional shredding service, here are the top items to have ready for destruction.

Cancelled Checks - After you have reconciled payments from your checking account, shred the checks that come back to you – if your bank still does this. Don’t leave any trace of your checking account number behind.

Pre-approval Mail from Credit Card Companies - We may be inclined to throw out that envelope that screams how we are pre-approved for credit. If you throw it out whole, somebody could fill out that application and get a card in your name. Don’t take that chance.

Expired Credit Cards - Leave one behind and somebody could try to use it to steal your identity.

Medical Records - These records contain your life health history and other private information. Some things do not need to be made publich.

Storage Data - Anything you have used to keep personal information – USB drives, cassettes, floppy discs, and even microfilm – should be destroyed if it’s no longer used.

Work-Related Documents - These may include payroll reports, employees records, accounting records, contracts, and proposals for projects. Anything considered exclusive and confidential should be shredded if they are no longer relevant to your needs.

Inventory Records - If you maintain a warehouse, an inventory list can assist in thief in knowing what to take from you. What records you do not need, seal them away or have them destroyed.

Legal Documents - Leases, contracts, outdated wills are among the legal documents you should shred if you no longer need them.

Correspondence - Letters, faxes, and e-mails saved to a disc reveal more personal information than an identity thief needs to know about you. If you have no reason to keep the letters in a safe place (for sentimentality), take them to a shredder.

Once you rid your home or office space of the paper clutter, you reduce the risk of somebody finding your information and using it to their advantage. Thieves are clever when it comes to stealing identities, so don’t give one an easy ticket.