If you are a home owner or own a business/organization then you are at risk for having your private information compromised. You need to be aware of who wants your information and understand why document destruction and paper shredding is recommended. Who Wants Your Information?
- Criminals who commit crimes like identity theft, credit card fraud, and check fraud.
- Competitors seeking to gain trade secrets like customer lists, marketing plans, and financial information.
- Investigators who seek to sensationalize, expose, and humiliate organizations.
- Disgruntled employees who seek to destroy the foundations of the businesses success.
How You Can Protect Your Organization Shredding documents and destroying electronic media effectively removes the myriad of information from being accessed by the wrong people. Shredding Documents is the Law The number of laws requiring businesses to protect personal information has exploded since the introduction of the Federal Privacy Act in 1974. The 1988 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in California vs Greenwood that affirmed the right to “dumpster dive”. was a catalyst to the proliferation of laws which made it a necessity for every individual and business to shred their paper. HIPAA and FACTA have further defined the need to shred documents. The federal laws along with a score of state ones require all private information from employees and customers to be destroyed prior to disposal.
