As more and more businesses become victims of information theft each year, it’s increasingly important to know and practice safe document disposal at work. Keep reading to learn which appliances you should be using and the common document destruction mistakes to avoid in the future.
Not Using a High-Security Paper Shredder
The typical paper shredder you’d find at your local office supplies store or general merchandise retailer isn’t going to provide the level of information security most businesses need. These shredders mainly use strip-cut shredding, which is better than nothing but still leaves your information at risk.
If you want to thoroughly destroy your business materials, turn to the shredders that education systems, government facilities, and hospitals rely on: high-security shredders. High-security shredders use a variety of cuts to suit different purposes, which empowers you to destroy documents to the extent you see fit.
Going Straight to Recycling
Some environmentally conscious employees might send paper documents straight to the recycling bin. While recycling the materials your business uses is important for creating a sustainable company, we should train employees to never dispose of confidential documents and information without thoroughly destroying them. Train employees to run confidential documents through a paper shredder first, then recycle the paper shreds. You can even use paper shreds for workplace compost piles and other sustainable projects.
Failure To Destroy Digital Data
Digital data can be tricky to destroy when it comes time to delete it. Simply emptying your computer’s recycling bin isn’t always enough to fully remove all traces of your important documents, especially if you’ve kept physical copies of the same data. Many businesses upload their banking information, earnings, and other information to spreadsheets and keep files on discs, SD cards, and other digital storage devices.
When you delete files from your computer, be sure to destroy any physical copies you have as well. This includes printed documents, SD cards, discs, and more. If you work with digital storage devices often, you might want to invest in a disintegrator machine that can destroy discs, drives, and ID cards.
Countless businesses fall victim to security breaches and information theft each year—don’t let your business become one of them. Avoid these common document destruction mistakes and train your employees to practice safe information handling at work.