You may already know that one of the most effective identity theft and business fraud prevention steps your business can take is to destroy documents that contain sensitive personal and financial information. But do you know that destruction isn’t just for paper?
Your old hard drives also contain confidential data. Thieves know this and are constantly on the lookout for carelessly-discarded media and devices. In this blog, we discuss why media destruction is essential for protecting your business.
Why Shred Media?
We live in a throwaway culture where gadgets and devices have a short lifespan. Old technologies are constantly replaced by the latest and greatest new technology. Businesses constantly cycle through computers and laptops—and even after erasing those old devices, a footprint of sensitive data remains.
As old devices are discarded and recycled or re-sold, the data left on them risks exposure and exploitation to the original owner. With a little effort, a thief can extract personal and confidential data from an “erased” hard drive. So if you want to keep your data out of the wrong hands, your media should always be destroyed.
How Hard Drive Shredding Works
Taking a hammer to your media in an attempt to destroy it won’t protect your business from identity theft and business fraud. A more effective and efficient solution for complete destruction is to invest in a hard drive shredding service that securely shreds, recycles and safely disposes of your media.
First, a vehicle equipped with a specialized shredder arrives at your business on a scheduled or as-needed basis. A screened shredding technician collects your hard drives, tapes, and optical media, records the serial numbers on each device, and feeds them through the shredder. In a matter of minutes, everything is reduced to tiny particles.
At the completion of your shredding project, you are given a Certificate of Destruction. It documents that your business has complied with state and federal privacy laws for secure destruction, and could save your business thousands of dollars in litigation costs. This is the reliable and secure way to destroy your media.
As you can see, when it comes to identity theft and business fraud protection, media destruction is just as important as paper shredding. It serves as an important part of a comprehensive information security plan.
Patriot Shredding provides paper and hard drive shredding solutions for businesses in DC, Maryland and Virginia. To learn more, please contact us by phone or complete the form on this page.
