Why should I shred?

Contracts, bills, employee files, invoices – the documents your organization generates contain a wealth of sensitive information. Protecting that business critical information is crucial. Your customers trust you to prevent their information from falling into the wrong hands and regulatory bodies demand compliance regarding when — and how — it’s destroyed.

Work with a certified third-party vendor to create a Secure Shred Program. When you routinely — and securely — shred sensitive business documents you:

Prevent identity theft or a data breach

Identity theft is the nation’s fastest growing crime and a recycling bin is a lot easier to steal from than an email inbox. Shredding protects your organization, and your customers, from being a target.

Improve efficiency

Your employees spend a lot of time looking for the few documents they need filed among the many they don’t. Routine shredding keeps our onsite files lean and easier to navigate.

Prove compliance

Only a certified shred vendor can provide a Certificate of Destruction (COD). A COD is accepted as proof by both auditors and regulatory bodies that sensitive information was destroyed securely.

What should I shred?

Any document that has a signature, account number, social security number or medical or legal information should be shredded. For example:

• Bank statements
• Credit reports
• Pre-approved credit card applications
• Docs containing name, address, social security number, phone or email address
• Employee records, payroll summaries, tax forms

Why can’t I shred in-house?

Paper cuts are the least of your worries

The secure destruction of sensitive business documents is a necessity. The regulations that govern how organizations handle and destroy sensitive information have evolved and the fines for non-compliance have drastically increased.

However, despite the financial and security benefits of employing a certified third-party shred vendor some organizations still manage their shredding internally. In-house shredding is problematic on several levels:

• Security: In-house shred programs don’t provide a secure chain of custody – documents in an in-house shred workflow are easy targets for theft or loss.
• Physical safety: Some organizations invest in commercial-grade shredding equipment. The risk of personal injury to people not specially trained to run industrial machinery is high.
• Fire hazard: Vast piles of paper waiting to be shredded are a considerable fire hazard. But, shredding large volumes of paper creates a huge amount of dust, which can spark a deflagration, or dust explosion.

One right way to shred

Work with a qualified vendor to create a Secure Shredding Program to protect your business and your customers.

Learn more at ironmountain.com/services/secure-shredding