When you hear the word “secure,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Priceless treasures under lock and key? The feeling of safety and contentment you get from knowing that everything is as it should be? The definition of security can vary depending on what you’re discussing, but when it comes to information, there are a few guiding principles that set the standard for what it should mean for you and your company.
Philosophy isn’t usually on our speaking roster, but it does inform how we’ve designed our secure document shredding services. Today, we’re going to share the three rules that you should always follow for optimal document security and how you can use them right away to improve your own document management systems.
All Information is Valuable Information
When it comes to information, we never assume that there’s such a thing as worthless data. Every piece of information can be used to inform or enhance another, and when it comes to discarding information, we assume that every piece is priceless. What might just be scribbled meeting notes to you could be the key to a brainwave worth thousands of dollars to someone else. A customer’s phone number might be common knowledge among a dedicated sales team, but in the wrong hands, it could be a key to that customer’s financial accounts. That’s why any kind of personally identifiable information (PII) deserves to be treated like the most valuable information you’ll ever handle.
When you or your employees are ready to discard PII, it should be placed in a safe, secure place until you can arrange to have it professionally destroyed. If you want to get rid of items with regularly scheduled shredding services, you can usually request locking storage containers to place around your office. These can be used to store whatever papers you have until shredding day while ensuring that no piece of information, no matter how benign, is left unprotected in the interim.
Controlled Access is Safe Access.
Your business runs on information, but just because all information is valuable doesn’t mean that everyone should have equal access to it. It’s well worth your time to evaluate your documents and assign specific access only to those employees who will need them. For example, the accounting department will likely need to refer to a customer’s account details, but your marketing team probably won’t need them (if they do, they can request access to a specific account).
By taking the initiative to establish controlled access right from the start, you effectively eliminate the chances of unauthorized access or misuse of a specific record. Only the employees you’ve approved have access, which means you don’t need to worry about how it’ll be used by anyone else in the company.
Just Because You Can DIY Doesn’t Mean You Should.
As a provider of certified shredding services, we’ve heard plenty of stories from customers who tried to implement their own in-house shredding program. On the surface, the idea makes sense: by taking complete control of the process, you’re also in exclusive control of your documents’ security and handling. However, as noble as this idea is, it’s frequently expensive and time-consuming to do correctly. And if it’s not done precisely according to the privacy regulations stipulated by state and federal law, the entire process is essentially useless to you.
Outsourcing your papers to a secure document shredding service doesn’t just save time and leave more money in your pocket. It’s also more safe and efficient than you’d be able to do on your own. Entrepreneurs are known for their go-to-it attitudes, but when it comes to secure document shredding, the decision to outsource it to a professional shredding company is actually the smarter move to make.
Use Secure Document Shredding Services.
Document security is our business, and we’ve put in years of research and experience to offer our clients the high-quality, prompt service they know they can expect. At TITAN Mobile Shredding, we perform secure document shredding on-site, wherever and whenever you specify. Our professional services allow you to effortlessly maintain 100% compliance with the latest state and federal privacy regulations, and after every shredding appointment, we’ll provide you with a Certificate of Destruction confirming that your papers were destroyed by a certified provider.
If you’d like to request more information about our secure document shredding services, give us a call at (866) 848-2699. You can also send us a message online.
