Anyone can be susceptible to identity theft. Whether it’s your business or your personal information that gets into the wrong hands, the outcome can be catastrophic. As a business, there are ways that you can protect yourself and your data to prevent identity theft.
Your business is not just responsible for your own records, but your clients and employees as well. This sort of data is incredibly important and needs to be handled carefully; as if you don’t store and dispose of them properly it could cause all sorts of issues.
Making sure that you’re shredding any sort of sensitive document that your business may have is one of the safest ways to make sure your documents are securely disposed of, eliminating the risk of identity theft. Not only will it put your clients at ease, but it will also give you peace of mind, as it’s a legal requirement to properly take care of this kind of document under the Data Protection Act.
Using a secure document shredding company will give your business a secure network to avoid these sort of threats. Stealing paper documents is one of the easiest ways that a criminal could steal an identity, and although electronic theft is still a risk, paper documents are the most common way for identity theft to occur. Making sure that your documents are efficiently destroyed is the best way to prevent your data from being leaked and used nefariously. Below are a few tips that you can utilize to help prevent your business from suffering from identity theft;
- Making sure that your business has got a safe and secure destruction policy for your companies documents. You need to know exactly what should be saved and what needs to be destroyed, and how to destroy them properly.
- Ensuring that any documents that you intend to recycle are shredded properly first. If you have sensitive or confidential documents left in a recycling bin anyone can access and use them.
- Look into creating identity theft prevention. It’s always safer to be proactive than reactive. Know exactly what you would do in the circumstances and have a prevention plan in place to stay as secure as possible.
- Hiring a professional shredding service to destroy all data. This is the best way to prevent identity theft, do not have the data salvageable in the first place. The Ontime Shred website is an ideal choice.
To make sure that your business is protected and secure, you want to make sure you hire a shredding company that can offer you a variety of services, such as;
- A background checking system in place for employees to ensure your documents are in the safest of hands every step of the way.
- A reliable and extensive training program outlining the importance of the information they’re destroying.
- Is certified and officially trained as a specialist.
Identity theft can be devastating, but putting precautions into place is relatively easy. Consider the changes that you can make to secure your business and documents for a much safer environment.