Paper Shredding Is the Secure Solution
Each and every company in Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands cumulates, and circulates documents that contain sensitive and confidential material. A bulk of these records includes critical details surrounding customers, employees, and specific business plans/contracts that need to be protected at all times.
Identity theft and unauthorized exposure of private information continue to increase and, unfortunately, can have detrimental effects on an individual or corporation. The only method of security that guarantees documents remain irrecoverable is through professional paper shredding services. Information that’s disposed of in an open recycling bin or trash bin leaves your company very vulnerable to outside threats.
Why You Should Shred Your Documents
Keep your Business Secure
Any business record that has reached the end of its life-cycle or is simply no longer needed should be thoroughly shred prior to its disposal. Confidential records that make their way into the local trash bin are no longer private, and are actually considered public for anyone to retrieve if the interest is there; unfortunately this means, it’s entirely legal for Puerto Rico residents to rummage through your dumpster if they so wish. Dumpster diving is a legal act, and can supply identity thieves with a large volume of critical data.
Taking the necessary preventative measures is the first and most important step, in securing your business from information theft or fraud. Specifically, all important documents that have reached the end of their life-cycle should be stored in secure, lockable collection containers until they are collected for destruction. These shred bins help to limit office clutter while providing an easy place for your staff to dispose of their sensitive records. Documents that are locked away from exposure remain protected from becoming lost or stolen and assist with organization. Ensure your Puerto Rico business is protected; be proactive by regularly shredding all documents that contain private manners.
It’s the Law
With more than 40 federal laws mandating that all organizations, healthcare facilities, and financial institutions safeguard the confidential information of their customers, clients,employees and patients, it is simply necessary that you establish a paper shredding program. Failure to do so may expose your business to substantial fines, negative publicity and lost business.
Ongoing paper shredding is not only a smart practice it’s a legal one as well. In Puerto Rico and throughout the United States, there are various regulations which mandate that your business secures its business records at all times, specifically files in relation to employees or customers.
Privacy is so easily compromised. Anyone passing by a recycle bin, a dumpster, a hotel lobby wastebasket is able to glean more information than one would expect. As a result, the government has instituted laws to protect the private information of customers, employees, patients, and clients. These laws require companies to shred documents, create paper shredding company policies or face penalties.
The minute you start doing business with customers or hire an employee, there is an implied contract to protect information based on the fact you’ve collected data from them. In some industries, like healthcare and financial services, there are laws that demand all this data be destroyed.
To maintain compliance with these privacy laws, it’s crucial that you securely shred all sensitive and outdated files. Doc Delete provides professional paper shredding solutions that are cost-effective, provide peace of mind, and most importantly assure that your business continues to be compliant with privacy laws.
You have a legal requirement to protect the privacy of your employees and customers; you should fully understand the particular regulations and the implications each of these have:
• The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Mandated in 1995, this law mandates that healthcare industry professionals thoroughly shred all patient documents.
• The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) Established in 2003, this started in an effort to reduce the risks of identity theft, by dictating that companies shred all customer information that’s no longer being stored.
• The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Enacted in 1999, this law is in place to ensure all financial institutions properly protect the privacy of consumer information, through secure document storage and disposal methods; this refers also to paper shredding.
Reduce your risk of a security breach; when in doubt, always shred. Almost half of the security breaches reported in the United States stem from dumpster diving. If sensitive documents are shredded, there’s nothing in the trash for data thieves and it reduces your risk of a breach.
Reduce Environmental Impact
It is said that every person generates roughly 6.4lbs of garbage each day; as a result it’s not surprising that companies are looking for more sustainable practices that also ensure their security is not jeopardized.
At Doc Delete, we take into account our environmental impact in everything we do. Recycling all paper particles after the secure paper shredding process, is just one of the ways in which we reduce our carbon footprint. In fact, we recycle 100% of the paper that we shred.
When you work with Doc Delete for your paper shredding needs, you are contributing to a greener Puerto Rico. Besides gaining considerable peace of mind that your data has been securely destroyed, your business will contribute to the environment in the following ways:
• Put a stop to the emissions of greenhouse gasses and water pollutants
• Reduce the need for landfills and incinerators
• Offer valuable raw materials to industry
• Promote the development of greener technologies