Protecting Client Information and Your Business
Security breaches with personally identifiable information are a big enough issue that the government maintains industry specific regulations to protect health, education and financial information. Certified shredding services in Washington, Canonsburg, California, Eighty Four and Venetia are the primary driving force in helping companies comply with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (also known as FACTA). This act covers a range of areas to protect customers making everyday transactions by placing limits on information sharing, adding more privacy and an updated version of consumer rights.
If you ever collect personal information such as date of birth, social security numbers or fingerprint and eye scan biometrics, it is crucial that your company operates with the utmost security to protect yourself from lawsuits. To handle reduce the likelihood of data breaches, it is important that all businesses follow five key principles.
- Take Stock - Always know what personal information you have written in files and stored on your computer.
- Scale Down - Keep only the minimum amount of information that you need and shred or destroy the rest.
- Lock It - Protect the information that you keep by using manual locks and dedicated bins for document disposal.
- Pitch It - With a certified shredding service in Washington County schedule regular service and maintain consistency so your employees stick to the routine.
- Plan Ahead - Come up with a viable document shredding and disposal plan that addresses educating your employees on the importance of proper handling, use of the dedicated paper shredding bins, and how to differentiate different insecure from secure documents.
Medical Records Shredding in Washington County, PA
Healthcare practices churn out plenty of patient paperwork making medical records shredding in Washington County the biggest industry by volume in shredding. ITRC Breach Reports show that 48% of all reported data breaches occurred in the medical industry. Both HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) regulates privacy and security protections and your legal liability to manage this information properly. With initial fines as high as $250,000 for neglecting to comply, you need a shredding partner that knows the ins and outs of these rules.
Financial Document Shredding in Washington, Canonsburg and California
There is plenty of incentive for thieves to try to gain access to bank account numbers and any other personally identifiable information putting banks and financial institutions at high-risk of data breaches. The GLBA (Gramm-Leach Bliley Act) governs the handling of financial documents and demands that employees be educated on proper document destruction and your company has a written policy for records management and disposal. Full service paper shredding services in Washington County include help establishing your companies policies to meet GLBA criteria and ongoing education.
Standards For Education Records Destruction & Management
Education and non-profit organizations hold documents for several years with vital, highly sensitive information on students and clients. Regulations set forth by both FACTA and FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) require all educational and non-profit organizations to protect the confidential information collected. Washington County shredding services that destroy all trail forms can help schools be comply with regulations and avoid fines that reach $1,000 per student.
Offsite vs. On-site Shredding Services; What You Need To Know
With two general types of shredding service, on-site and offsite, determining which is best for your business will come down to finding a balance of low cost, high level of security and often logistics issues for companies with many locations or in locations far from the center of Washington County.
With offsite shredding in Washington County all of your documents are picked up on a regular schedule and taken to a shredding facility to be shredded. Customers receive a certificate of destruction and most offsite shredding providers are bonded and insured for your protection. Off site shredding service is slightly less expensive and more environmentally friendly as more of the paper is able to be recycled. The problem with offsite shredding is that there is higher risk of liability due to the chain of custody being severed. In other words, there are just more potential points of failure when multiple employees are handing off the documents multiple times before they are destroyed.
On-site paper shredding in Washington County significantly reduces the risks involved with transporting important documents from one location to the next by having mobile shredding trucks do the work at your business. You can witness documents being shredded first-hand and there are much fewer hand offs between employees on average.
Taking Reasonable Measures for Security
Companies that use sensitive consumer data on a daily basis should take the appropriate steps in order to keep themselves and their customers safe from fraud and identity theft. Providing their employees with ongoing education and training on how to properly handle sensitive documents both in paper format and data stored on the computer is an important step in the right direction. Procedures for disposing of sensitive data should be documented in a company manual and placed in an area where it may be accessed at all times.
Making sure that you maintain a consistent, ongoing schedule for paper shredding and document destruction can also help to cut down on the risk of fraud and data breaches. For most companies a monthly schedule for cleaning out computer data and setting up paper shredding services will greatly decrease the risk.
Questions to Ask Shredding Companies in Washington, Canonsburg, California and Eighty Four
Finding a reliable provider is vital for your company's security, privacy and reputation. By asking the right questions you can see if they are a good fit for your company and your client's information will be kept safe and secure at all times.
What type of material do you shred?
Most paper shredding companies in Washington County have the ability to shred many types of materials including electronic discs, DVDs, videotapes, hard drives, plastic, and fabric if needed. Different colors and types of paper can generally be combined prior to shredding, but extremely thick stock paper may need to be separated.
How is stored material kept safe?
Both on-site and off-site shredding companies will provide their customers with secure, locked containers that documents may be placed in over time. These containers are strategically placed in your office or facility to make it easy for your employees to follow company policy and in areas that are secure. Most providers will offer large containers in 95, 64 and 32 gallon sizes. Smaller containers that have a capacity of 23 gallons or less are ideal for small offices and can fit in compact spaces such as underneath desks.If documents are taken off site, additional measures must be taken. For example, along with certificate of destruction, you can sometimes get video of the entire process from when the paper paper is taken from your location to when it is destroyed in the facility.
What happens to the paper after it has been shredded?
Once the paper has been shredded into small, confetti-sized pieces, it is bundled up and often recycled into a variety of other paper products. Some companies may not recycle their shredded paper and therefore it is important to ask how they dispose of the material and base your decision on how their methods may put your business at a higher or lower risk. Not all shredded paper can be recycled however, as many companies combine multiple different type of recyclable and non-recyclable paper together prior to shredding.
What is a Certificate of Destruction?
A certificate of destruction is a form that shredding services provide so that you can prove it was destroyed. It will show the date when your documents were destroyed and serve as proof that they cannot be reconstructed. This form is ideal for auditing purposes and can help protect your company in the event of a data breach by limiting your responsibility.
How can I make sure my company uses document destruction best practices?
In addition to education provided by your document shredding service in Washington, Canonsburg, California and Eighty Four, there are numerous resources available to your corporate security and risk management teams. Three great in-depth resources are provided by SANS, the PTAC and ARMA and they each highlight the complexities involved in managing modern document security.
Does your company require a service contract?
Some paper shredding companies may require a service contract that outlines the frequency of service and the size or number of lockable containers. This can help to establish a long-term business relationship with your company and allows them to offer greater discounts.
Do you offer a guarantee?
In addition to a certificate of destruction you should expect an additional guarantee that the shredding company will pay damages if confidential documents are lost, stolen or mishandled under their protection. These damage protections should be at least $100,000.
Can I watch the shredding take place?
Is your shredding company certified?
Aptera recommends only working with shredding companies certified by the NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) who serves as a resource for both consumers (you) and for shredding companies to maintain best practices, understand how changing laws affect the paper shredding industry and more.
Do we need to remove staples or separate types of paper?
No, industrial paper shredding machines can handle many combinations of paper, staples, paperclips, sticky notes and more. Do not treat the shred bins as a trash can however and throw everything in, and always make sure no plastic or liquids get into the bin.
Integrated Document Handling Solutions for Businesses with Sensitive Customer Data
A comprehensive, high level approach to document handling services will help large companies handling lots of customer data. Much more than a shredding service, this entails management of document flow throughout the entire life cycle from creation to storage to destruction and applies to paper, hard storage and even cloud based data handling. Implementing an integrated document handling program will reduce the danger of data leaks by holding employees accountable for every step in the process.
Data and Records Management in Washington County
Data and records management services in Washington County help archive documents digitally and allow easy retrieval that keeps you compliant with regulations and minimizes chances for litigation. A secure backup of all your company’s important data files protects against crashes and breaches and provides a way for management to oversee data storage.
Document Imaging in Washington County
How much time do your employees waste tracking down business records, contracts and documents? Scanning and document imaging services in Washington County make it easy to access these documents anytime from any computer. To transition to documents to electronic form, most shredding company will pick up and securely transport documents to be scanned in a facility and then store or shred the documents for you.
Document Storage Services
Do you need a way to store thousands of documents but don’t have the space? Many shredding companies offer document storage in Washington County to safely store boxes of records inside a secure environment. Document retrieval services available that go along with this service. In most cases, the shredding company will pick up and transport the documents that need to be stored and catalog the records so that they will be neat and organized when you need them.
Having a one-stop solution for all your document shredding and storage needs is ideal for many companies in today’s hectic business environment. To guarantee that your business, employees and customers will remain safe and secure from identity theft and security breaches, you should consider hiring a reliable paper shredding provider and take advantage of the many document destroying solutions they have to offer.
Washington County Cities Served
Paper Shredding Services Washington, PA
Washington Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Washington one time on site paper shredding costs $21, one time off site paper shredding costs $25.
Paper Shredding Services Canonsburg, PA
Canonsburg Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Canonsburg one time on site paper shredding costs $17, one time off site paper shredding costs $20.
Paper Shredding Services California, PA
California Paper Shredding Services Costs:
California one time on site paper shredding costs $16, one time off site paper shredding costs $20.
Paper Shredding Services Eighty Four, PA
Eighty Four Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Eighty Four one time on site paper shredding costs $16, one time off site paper shredding costs $20.
Paper Shredding Services Venetia, PA
Venetia Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Venetia one time on site paper shredding costs $19, one time off site paper shredding costs $23.
Paper Shredding Services Mc Donald, PA
Mc Donald Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Mc Donald one time on site paper shredding costs $17, one time off site paper shredding costs $20.
Paper Shredding Services Avella, PA
Avella Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Avella one time on site paper shredding costs $20, one time off site paper shredding costs $24.
Paper Shredding Services Donora, PA
Donora Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Donora one time on site paper shredding costs $16, one time off site paper shredding costs $19.
Paper Shredding Services Monongahela, PA
Monongahela Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Monongahela one time on site paper shredding costs $21, one time off site paper shredding costs $25.
Paper Shredding Services Charleroi, PA
Charleroi Paper Shredding Services Costs:
Charleroi one time on site paper shredding costs $18, one time off site paper shredding costs $22.
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