subject: Confidential Disposing Of Waste Data Should Be A Top Business Priority [print this page]
If not you could be putting your own business and those of your clients at risk.
Many people think 'confidential' means top secret. But this is not the case. A simple name, address and telephone number could be considered confidential. If it accidentally fell into the wrong hands it could be used by fraudsters as a tool for identity theft. If that piece of paper also had a bank account number on, then it would be a prize possession in criminal circles.
The fact is that those with unscrupulous minds can make use of what may seem to be the most innocent documents to office workers. That is why every business should have a policy in place for discarding of all waste paper and data in a secure manner.
Professional companies specialise in confidential shredding and can advise business owners on how to go about setting up such a strategy.
All company staff should then be made aware that the policy is being introduced and should take steps to ensure any data they no longer require is disposed of in the appropriate way.
Experts in confidential shredding will also often have teams who will come into a business premises and pick up waste material from designated containers. They will then either professionally shred paper documents on the premises or take them away to be shredded at a secure site.
Similarly data files, data sticks, software and computer hardware need to be dismantled, disabled and disposed of in a secure fashion to prevent any information they contain from falling into criminal hands.
Simply leaving a company's old accounts' department computer at the local scrap heap is not good enough. It exposes it and the confidential information it contains to access by any number of people.
That can include information about company clients, whether they be private individuals or other businesses, along with information about your own company and its unique working procedures.
Every month up to 100 cases of corporate identity fraud are now reported to Companies House and a recent survey by the Association of Chief Police Officers revealed losses totalling 20 billion by businesses having inadequate security systems in place. This is clearly a key reason why companies should give top priority to initiating a security system which will prevent fraudsters accessing information which they can use to their own illegal ends.
Don't assume that bagging up waste paper in black bin liners is the answer - it is clearly not.
