Information safety has a few common areas that are obvious when it comes to data breach risks. Improper disposal of hard drives and secure records carelessly thrown into the garbage are among the most common. Working with a certified secure shredding company like SAFESHRED can help you identify areas you may not have thought of beforehand.
Paper Records
The areas around printers are always a hot spot for papers. Very often you’ll get excess papers by mistake, or something went wrong during the print. These pages are of course disposed of, but sometimes left on the printer, in the nearest receptacle. You need to be aware that these papers still contain sensitive information and must still be disposed of properly, keeping secure shred bins near by is a good way to mitigate this problem.
This problem can also manifest at our very desks. Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there. Papers and clutter taking over the desk happens to the best of us. What’s absolutely vital is to make sure none of those papers are a security risk. Just like with printers, keeping a desk side console for the excess is a great way of preventing this, or even using a lockable desk draw for those records needing retention.
Data Files
Keeping older computers around for parts or just as back up isn’t an uncommon practice, but it can lead to some security issues when they haven’t been cleared and secured properly. Any one could slip into a room with a USB and attempt to recover data from these machines. Like wise your server room could be at risk for similar problems if it’s not secure. Making sure the data is encrypted, disposed of properly, and keeping rooms securely locked is vital in our digital age.
On the topic of old USB’s, are you keeping track of all yours? These devices are easy to “misplace”, and if that’s how you’re transferring data around then you need to keep a close eye on them. Likewise, with old CD-ROMs, if you aren’t using them anymore then you need to have them properly destroyed so they don’t become a risk. Any data that might still be needed should be transferred to more modern and secure storage methods, and then the disks destroyed. The same goes for those old floppy disks, but hopefully you’ve handled those things long ago!
If you need assistance identifying areas of risk, or are ready to act on them already, reach out to us and tell us your needs. Our secure processes will help to reduce the risks of information theft from affecting you.
