Each time you pick up a newspaper or switch on a TV news channel, you are bound to read or hear about a data breach, hack, scam, or identity theft. It is quite likely that you too have experienced a deceptive phone call, text or email, with a fairly convincing pretext to share personal or financial information. If you are wary of such scams and stay alert, you might escape identity theft. However, fraudsters will continue to evolve their methods and innovate, hence you need to consider taking proactive measures as well.
Shredding is one of the easiest ways to protect your identity, and the identity of those who have entrusted you with their data. Destroy confidential information before it falls into the wrong hands. At TITAN Mobile Shredding, we offer convenient residential shredding services for your individual needs, and onsite services for your business shredding requirements.
What to Keep and What to Shred
If you fall prey to identity theft, fraudsters will misuse or impersonate your personal information, or debit and credit card details for criminal purposes. Keep your most critical documents in a safe and secure place at all times. This includes birth, death or marriage certificates, education and employment records, passports, property deeds, wills and other legal contracts.
Stay alert while managing other documents and devices that you need for a limited time, but contain personal or confidential information. The key is to shred anything that has data, such as your addresses, signatures, account numbers, social security number, and medical or legal information.
Here are some quick tips for what, when and how to shred:
- Immediately shred any mail correspondence that you don’t need but has your name and address.
- File documents such as ATM receipts, paper bank statements, utility bills and insurance policies for up to 2 years in case you need to refer to them. Later, you can get rid of them with professional shredding. If you have online access to your statements and policies online, shred the hard copies sooner.
- Destroy or shred any CDs or prescription medication packages that have personal information on them.
- Remember to destroy hard drives, SD cards, mobile phones, SIM cards and thumb drives. Reformat the devices and cards, or destroy them with a sledgehammer, a special shredder for non-paper items.
- Use a good quality strip cut or cross cut shredder to ensure that the destroyed documents are not easy to reassemble. Rather than spend time destroying each document or device, engage the services of a professional paper shredding company. You can also have peace of mind knowing that the destruction is meticulously done.
You must also take other necessary precautions to protect yourself from identity theft. Be smart about how you use social media, pins and passwords, online shopping, and overall cyber security. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your bank records for any unauthorized charges or withdrawals.
Choose a trusted NAID AAA Certified company to address your paper and digital media shredding needs. Call TITAN Mobile Shredding and speak to our data destruction professionals at (866) 848-2699 today or contact us online to request your free quote.
