Use Your Head…Shred
Companies and individuals deal with vast amounts of information every day including customer and employee contact details, confidential reports, financial details, bills and credit card statements. If this information gets into the wrong hands this can have a devastating effect. Confidential materials are generated daily by almost every employee, from strategic planning documents to employee medical records. In reality, more materials than you might think contain private information that could be a security risk.
It’s not only at the office that there are risks. The growth in remote working is making employees more vulnerable to identity theft outside the office – Fellowes found that 67% of employees questioned often work from a non-office location from time to time. 39% of these don’t shred at all, meaning that they discard confidential company information intact.
Personal credit information is one of the main targets for fraudsters looking to benefit from this type of fraud, with traditional paperbased sources being significantly more susceptible to theft than alternative electronic channels. Whilst legislation and privacy policies are designed to both protect companies and keep criminals in check, prevention is always the best strategy.
National Identity Fraud Prevention Month in October is a nationwide effort to help in the battle against identity fraud. Use your head…..shred. The best way to dispose of confidential paper or sensitive information is by shredding onsite with a cross cut shredder to ensure they are disposed of securely. Many companies still use strip cut machines which only offer basic protection and often CDs or DVDs are overlooked and thrown away when no longer needed so ideally companies should invest in cross cut shredders with the capacity to destroy CDs too. For a full range of department and personal shredders contact UKOS.
For more information about ID Fraud support and prevention advice visit http://www.stop-idfraud.co.uk/
