With many workplaces keeping their offices closed still, many people are still working remotely. Working remotely means that secure documents are going to be produced by these workers in their homes, which raises some questions about information security. These records still need to be destroyed properly, but there are some risks in letting your remote workers handle it themselves.

The Risks

There are a few big risks that come with letting remote workers take care of it all themselves that you should consider.

Are They Even Shredding?

The first issue that needs to be considered is whether or not the remote workers are even bothering to shred the papers at all. Obviously you would hope that they understand the importance of doing this, but negligence does occur, be it deliberate or accidental, from time to time. Papers that have just been thrown straight into the trash or recycling can be easily retrieved by someone trying to take advantage of this opportunity to commit fraud. Remote workers must understand the importance of prosper document handling and disposal.

Is Their Shredding Secure Enough?

Chances are most of the remote workers that have access to a shredding machine of their own use a simple machine gotten from an office supplies store. This might seem fine, but the issue with these machines has to do with their shred pattern. Most home office shredders simple cut papers into long thin strips that can be reassembled with some time and effort. Clearly that is not a good thing. Properly secure shredding reduces paper to a fine confetti that can’t be reconstructed.

Recycling Can Be An Issue

After shredding, the papers need to be recycled to support sustainability efforts, which is usually handled for you by a shredding company. The issue with doing it from home is that some places will not accept papers that are below a certain amount. This can result in paper waste ending up in the landfill, which goes against the shredding industries efforts towards sustainability.

What You Can Do

Take responsibility onto yourself and help your remote workers with protecting your business information, just like you would be when the office is open. Arrange days for workers to come and drop off documents at the office, host a shredding event where they, and others in the community, can come and shred papers. Maybe even consider arranging for a shredding truck to pop by your employees houses to collect and shred. All you have to do is reach out to a shredding provider and hash out some solutions to your issues. They’re the experts after all.

Sooner or later offices will reopen once we have gotten through COVID-19. When that time comes, workplaces will have to make some decisions to make. With workers coming back in, many may bring the various work documents they created while at home, or the office itself has been without shredding service for a while. So what do you do?

In order to quickly get back on track, you need to have a pass through the office that takes care of any documents. To that end we have an option for you: a one-time document purge.

How Does A One-Time Purge Protect?

Why bother with the one-time purge to begin with? What are the advantages? Let’s lay out several reasons.

Identity Theft Protection

With many employees working from home, you can never be sure what steps they are taking to protect the sensitive information. Many have surely been instructed in some safe ways to store said information while they have it. Once the office is reopening, you should encourage them to bring it all in to be destroyed. The best way to quickly and safely handle all these records coming into the office is going to be a one-time purge, which will destroy everything in one go. This way you don’t have to risk having records sitting around for long periods of time.

Lower The Chance Of Misplaced Documents

Human-error happens to the best of us, and this can lead to accidental data beaches. Clutter is a big factor with this as well. Cleaning up clutter, and shredding the documents swiftly will reduce the chances of negligence causing you problems when trying to re-open the office after a pandemic.

Part Of Secure Document Management

If the office has been closed for a while, chances are your secure document management has fallen by the wayside a bit, at no fault of yours. In order to get a boost when coming back, a one-time purge is a fast way to get back on track. It’s also a great way to quickly refine, or implement, your document management process. Should the quantity shredded prove large, you may realize that a regular scheduled service will be of large benefit to you.

Ready To Help You

If all this sounds good to you, and you want a way to begin this process, we got you covered. Simply reach out and give us the details of what you need. We can offer a one-time purge, scheduled service, or a host of other services to suit your needs. Let us know.

One of the ways information breaches can happen to a business is through the theft of paper documents from your office, or right out of the trash. It’s not always some highly planned scheme that looks like something from Oceans 11, it can often just be a crime of opportunity. The situation is an easy one to imagine: someone comes into the office, they see some papers that look official on a nearby desk, with a quick look around they see no one is watching them. A decision is made, the papers are grabbed up, pocketed before anyone notices, and just like that you’ve experienced a data breach.

How do we stop this? It’s clearly an unacceptable situation for you to be in, it poses a big security risk for you and your clients. Fortunately there is an easy solution you can follow to help prevent the theft of documents left laying about. If you read the title of this blog then you already know what you have to do: implement a clean desk policy in your workplace.

Creating A Clean Desk Policy

Creating a policy is fairly straightforward, as it is a simple thing to understand. Proper training and enforcement will be required to ensure the success of this policy.

It is important for your staff to understand that they can’t be leaving sensitive papers on their desks. As the example above illustrates, it is an easy thing for a dis-honest individual to happen by and take something. Naturally the next place people will keep files would be in their desks, which can work if you can secure the drawers. Depending on what exactly your document management policy is, you may decide a better option is storing them in an agreed upon location. The practicality of that will of course depend on the nature of your business.

Not only will using a clean desk policy improve the security of your information, it’ll also tidy the place up! It could breathe a breath of fresh air into an otherwise cluttered office. As helpful as this can be, it isn’t a substitute for proper document shredding. When you are ready to get on board with some, let us know ASAP.

We’ll be there.

A puff of smoke pops out of your computer in the middle of your work day, your smart phone suddenly winks out in the middle of a call. For one reason or another, your trusty electronics have failed you and you are resigned to the fact that it is now junk. You may salvage some pieces here and there, or you may just toss the whole kit and kaboodle out, but one way or the other something is going to end up in the landfill.

Unfortunately this is a bad decision to make, for a number of reasons that we will get into. The overall summary is that they have a negative impact on the environment that most people don’t realize. Understanding is of course the first step towards fixing the problem, and hopefully after this you will understand more.

Why Electronics Are Bad For Landfills

Hazardous Materials

Electronics have a number of different materials in them, heavy metals specifically pose an issue here. A heavy metal refers to a metal that is high density and toxic/poisonous. If these metals are left out to break down in a landfill, these toxins will leak out. They’ll work their way into the soil, the water, and the air. From there they find their way into the plants, animals, and even the people of the region. As you can probably guess, slowly being poisoned isn’t a particularly great thing for the environment, or your good self.

Taking Up Space

Another issue is the fact that electronics take up alot of space, and since they don’t really break down like other trash, they hold onto that space for some time. As the landfill gets pilled up with more and more junk, it fills up faster then it would if everything was decomposable. This results in more landfills needing to be opened up across the land, which in turn fill up with more items that should never have been in them to begin with.

What Should You Do

Instead of throwing old or broken electronics away to rot in the landfill, you should seek out a service that specializes in the proper disposal of e-waste. For example, we can easily handle the proper destruction of your old hard drives, and other services have a full complement of e-waste recycling. By doing so you will be keeping toxic materials from breaking down in the environment, and help sustainability efforts by letting recyclable materials be used in new products.

Whatever you decide, just remember this one thing: keep electronics out of the landfills.

You’ve made the decision to search for and obtain a professional shredding service, and you’ve discovered that there are many out there. Some are large, some are small, but they usually all offer the same kind of services. This can make narrowing down your choice difficult when everyone looks the same. Fortunately there are some things you can look for that will help you make a decision.

Certain things really define who the quality shredding service providers are, and these are the points you need to be on the lookout for. A certificate of destruction, an important document for your records should be provided. Certified regulation compliant services that adhere to both State and Federal regulations. Environmentally friendly service that is dedicated to recycling all shredded material. Those three key points will really help you narrow your options, but what do they each mean?

Three Points In A Quality Shredding Service

Certificate Of Destruction

The certificate of destruction, which is awarded to you upon completion of your shredding, is your proof that you have met your compliance requirements. You’d keep this in your records going forward for peace of mind that you can prove what you’ve done, should you need to. Additionally, in order to award a proper certification, a shred company needs to be certified themselves to begin with.

Certified Services

The mark of a true shredding company is one that is NAID AAA Certified. This certification is a sign that all the highest requirements of State and Federal regulations have been met. Any shred company worth their salt will go after this certification, should you meet one that does not have one of these, look elsewhere. It’s best not to take chances with your private information.

Environmentally Friendly

Aside from certifications, the mark of a truly great shred company is their commitment to sustainability efforts. The sheer amounts of paper still being used is staggering, and it fills up the landfills very quickly, meaning more will have to open. Additionally the wasted material has huge ramifications, the logging industry will have to cut many more trees in order to meet paper demand. However, when shredders recycle the paper material properly it can be repurposed into new paper products, thus lowering our impact on the environment, and slowing the filling of landfills.

Additionally, for companies that offer hard drive destruction, sustainability efforts keep the heavy metals from electronics out of the landfill, which prevents toxins from leaking into the air, soil, and water. Shredded material is also sent to be recycled into new products, once again lowering our impact on the environment.

There It Is

Hopefully you now have a good idea on how to choose a good shred company. Keep an eye out for these key items, and you will have an easier time navigating through the many shred companies that are out there.

Happy shredding!

Sometimes you come across some records during the course of your business that you need to hold on to. Conventional wisdom suggests that you should shred documents immediately, but in some cases that isn’t practical. Certain medical records, financial statements, contact information, etc, are all types of documents you might need to hold onto. Doing so requires care, lest you run afoul of compliance regulations by being careless.

Whether you are a professional business with a big fancy office with a large list of employees, or a humble small business owner working out of your home, the same considerations will apply. Selecting a secure location to store records is the order of businesses here, as well as good old fashioned common sense. We’ll look at some of the most common places most businesses, be they large or small, could have access to.

Common Safe Record Storage Options

Lockable Desk Drawer / File Cabinet

The least secure option on the list, these also typically tend to be the most common, especially for the smaller businesses. Depending on the budget you had when you bought these, the locking mechanism will vary from ridiculously simple to a more complex lock. Making good use of the drawers instead of keeping papers piled on your desk is both secure and organized.

It’s not exactly easy to hide these ones, the desk especially would be a challenge, making them very obvious as the location for your files. If it’s all you have then you will have to make due as best you can, unless of course you are inclined to get something better.

A Good Safe

This is likely the most secure option you can get. A good stout safe, that’s preferably kept out of sight so it’s out of mind, will do a good job keeping your records protected. Their locks are more complex than what you’d find in a drawer, and their secure construction makes circumventing then lock itself unlikely. For extra protection, you could seek out a safe that is fire resistant so it will still offer protection to what’s inside should a disaster occur. While the price might be an issue for some, it is better to invest in good equipment that will last over poor equipment that could be compromised.

Safety Deposit Box / Off-Site Storage

Perhaps you have a feeling that storing records off site somewhere is the best option for you. In that case a safety deposit box is probably the first option many working from home will consider. While this is a good option, if you have more then a few items you may run into problems of organization and space as well. A better option would be to contact a record storage company, one that is dedicated to properly protecting documents. They use organizational procedures to ensure you can always find what you need, offer great security, and disaster protection.

There are many options you could pursue, some are far better then others, but whatever you choose you need to make sure it complies with the regulations. We can help you with that sort of thing, giving you peace of mind. It’s best not to take any chances with private information.

With more and more of our daily routines migrating to digital mediums, the abundance of wireless technology, and so many people working from home these days, data protection needs to be in the forefront of your mind. Every day use can lean towards being careless at times. With the ever increasing cases of data breaches, it is important to be careful. Luckily there are some easy things people can do in their everyday lives to improve your cyber security.

4 Ways To Improve Your Data Protection

Avoid Public Wi-Fi When Possible

Public wi-fi is everywhere these days, with social venues and other businesses offering it as a perk of visiting their location. With so many people connecting to these freely accessible wi-fi hotspots, data thieves can have a field day. Public wi-fi is not a secure connection, since anybody can connect, a dedicated individual can monitor what it is you are doing. To that end, it is best to avoid using it for anything that is sensitive, like your banking for example.

Delete Suspicious Emails

One of the oldest tricks in the book for cyber criminals is the scam email. We’ve all been there, you check your email one day and see something that looks a little off, so you open it to see what it’s all about. Sometimes opening it is all they need, something nasty gets left behind in your system, and they’re in. Others require you to be a bit more proactive in your own detriment, asking you to reach out by phone or email, which you should not do of course. Give them absolutely no information.

Your best course of action is to simply leave suspicious looking emails unopened. Block the sending address and delete it entirely. It is not worth the risk or your time.

Two Factor Authentication

A newish addition to the cyber security world that has really taken off is two factor authentication for your logins. How it works in a nutshell is this: you set up in your account to have a code emailed to you, or texted to your mobile phone, which needs to be entered so you can login. Easy, simple, and effective. The code itself is generated at the time of login, and has a short shelf life before expiring. It adds a nice layer of additional security for you, and can act as an alert to unauthorized login attempts.

Use Different Logins And Passwords

We’re all guilty of reusing passwords and logins for our various accounts. It makes remembering things easier, but is at high risk of compromise should it get stolen. Consider that by using one login and one password for every account leaves them all vulnerable if the login credentials are stolen. This is obviously not good. Come up with some variety, and don’t resume passwords for your most secure logins, see banking and finance as an example.

Data security goes beyond online sources, old hard drives, usbs, and other data storage devices can all be risks as well. Be smart, stay safe, and you’ll have a better time navigating the digital world.

With many people heeding the advice of healthcare professionals, and seeking self-isolation for a period of time, there arises some questions for businesses. Life must go on despite the limitations imposed on us. For those with the option to do so, many are choosing to work from home. By doing so, we are moving our secure information with us, and keeping up with security continues to be a big concern.

While your work place most likely has procedure and security in place for information security, you may not necessarily have the same set up at home on such short notice. So what can you do to keep information safe while protecting your health? As it turns out, there’s a fair bit you can do.

Information Security At Home

Cyber Security

For starters, since the majority of working from home will involve computers, we will start here. As you are most likely working from your personal computer, start by having a good password to lock it. Chances are, no one is going to log onto your own computer, but it’s better not to take chances.

If you are using wi-fi instead of a wired connection, make sure it is encrypted. A strong, unguessable password, will help prevent anyone from just hopping on and monitoring your data use. Another good step is naming your wi-fi something that can not be immediately traced back to you. For example: don’t name it after yourself, or your address.

Keep a good anti-malware/anti-virus program running on your computer, and utilize a firewall to prevent attacks on your system. Should anything try and come at your system from the web, a good firewall will help to deflect the attack. Anti-virus/anti-malware programs will help to contain and remove any harmful files/programs that may infiltrate your computer.

When you are between working hours, at night for example, a good idea is to shut the computer right down. By leaving it on all the time, you are leaving connections open to it, connections that could be exploited. By shutting the power right off, no connections can be made to your machine.

While cyber security can be a complicated business and there are many things you can do, taking a few precautions will protect you. When everything is all said and done, don’t forget that you have had business data on your computer. When it gets old and it’s time to go, destroy your hard drives properly to ensure no data can be recovered.

Paper Record Security

If you are printing lots of records for your files while working at home, don’t forget that you are still required to follow compliance regulations. If you are retaining them, keep them stored in a secure manner. A locked safe that’s kept out of sight would be best, but a lockable file cabinet, or desk drawer can work for the short term.

When you need to dispose of paper records, do not be tempted to use your home paper shredder. They do not meet the requirements for paper shredding that a real industrial grade shredder does. This leaves the potential that documents could be reconstructed.

Just about every real certified paper shredder offers on site options for residents and businesses. These services will come right to your location, and shred right at your door. For those implementing social distancing, we can easily accommodate your needs during the shredding process.

Remember that now is not a time to forget about your information responsibilities, and you can stay on top of it, even if you are at home in self-isolation.

To our valued customers: we are remaining strong, dedicated to supporting our people and our community and we are taking the necessary precautions to keep our customers and staff safe. We would like to let you know that:

• We we will remain open for business at this time. We plan to continue our operations for as long as our customers stay open and need our services.
• We are carefully monitoring the health of our entire staff. No one will be out servicing our customers, or working in our offices, if they are experiencing any cold or flu-like symptoms.
• If you have your employees working from home, please remind them of the importance of storing any paperwork they may have to print in a bag or box at their home. Employees can bring that container back to your office and place the contents in our shred containers when you re-open.
• If you are closing, please notify us so we can take the proper steps

Stay well and please reach out if you have any questions!
Chesapeake Paper Systems

So your computer has served you faithfully for many years, but now age has finally caught up to it. Starting the computer used to take seconds, now it takes minutes. Opening and closing programs happened with immediateness, now the computer has to think about it first. It’s time for an upgrade, but you need to be careful with your old parts. Old hard drives need to be destroyed, and there are some important reasons why that is.

3 Reasons To Destroy Old Hard Drives

Ensure Data Destruction

First thing’s first. Your data is still vulnerable on a hard drive after you have deleted it. Many people don’t understand how deletion works. The assumption, and one can’t be blamed for believing this considering the definition of the word “delete,” is that your data is destroyed. This is not the case at all.

Data in your hard drive is stored in a specific spot that is reserved only for it. When it gets deleted the data is merely flagged as available to be overwritten, and the links pointing to it are removed. That’s it! Eventually, as new data is created and saved, that old piece will get overwritten, but what happens if you don’t create anymore? The old stuff will be sitting there still, waiting and vulnerable.

This is why complete physical destruction of the hard drive is so essential. A dedicated person with some software and a little time can recover what was deleted. Preventing this is as simple as ensuring there is nothing available for recovery. As you may guess the way to do that is by not leaving a hard drive behind for someone to try to use it. By utterly destroying the devices there is nothing left to be recovered, which protects any data you left behind.

Keeping With Compliance

Another reason for destroying hard drives comes down to legal requirements. There are various State and Federal laws that require the safe and proper handling of information. Two specific examples of laws are HIPAA for medical information, and FACTA for other areas. Failing to be in compliance will result in fines for businesses, and a loss of trust from your clients.

Environmental Impact

Another issue to keep in mind is putting electronics in the landfill negatively impacts the environment. There are toxic materials in electronics like various heavy metals. When allowed to deteriorate, leak toxins into the air, soil, and water. Those toxins will eventually find their way into all aspects of the ecosystem, including plants and animals that consume them. Eventually of course they find their way into humans, as we eat, drink, and breathe all the same things as the other animals.

Additionally there’s the issue of landfills filling in faster this way. The sooner a landfill reaches capacity, the sooner we have to open more. And then more and more will follow after it. Proper destruction takes the decimated components and sends them away for proper recycling. Toxic materials are handled properly, and the rest is turned into new products, lowering our overall impact.

In The End

So there we have it, 3 reasons why you should be destroying your hard drives when their time has come. It all comes down to doing what’s best for your data privacy, your legal responsibilities, and helping out the environment. Don’t take any chances, do it right from the beginning.