Documents can be a hassle these days between the threat of information theft and the various regulations concerning their handling. While it can be frustrating, these concerns are valid for various reasons. One question you may be wondering is the best means of storing your records.

Some records aren’t required to be stored for a length of time due to shredding requirements, but there are documents that should be stored. Why would you even need to do this, and how should you go about it? It’s not rocket science, but sometimes knowing where to start can be a big help to get things rolling.

Why Store Records?

First thing’s first: why would you store records when you can just shred them all and not have to worry about it? The answer is a simple one: there are just some things you need to hold onto. Between legal requirements and for the sake of your own records, some files need to be retained for a period of time.

Medical records, finances, letters of sales, etc, are examples of records you may want to store. Additionally, tax records and bank statements may also be on your list. For a business, you might have client files you need to hold, but don’t want to run the risk of leaving them exposed. Securely storing them helps to improve record security at the same time that it helps you declutter your space.

How To Store Records?

The reason for storing records is fairly self evident. Now we need to decide the best way to do so. You could of course do it yourself successfully with the proper considerations, but we’d humbly suggest using a professional document storage service. These services offer a number of advantages that you wouldn’t get on your own, at least not without great investments of time and money.

For starters, they provide you with an organizational system that keeps your records in good order, and easily retrievable, without you having to invest a lot of your own time into it. The secure storage facility itself comes with a number of advantages you won’t easily get on your own. The premises are secured against intruders with state of the art security systems, with only authorized, background checked personnel allowed entry.

Furthermore is disaster protection built right into the facility. What do we mean by disaster? This refers to things like: building fires, flooding, earthquakes (where applicable), etc. Disasters happen unfortunately, and it’s important to try to mitigate the damage where you can. Since the structure is designed with these in mind, you’ll find protections like: fire doors, fire resistant materials, strong shelving, etc. All precautions to keep your records as safe as possible.

Keeping your records as safe and organized as possible is important, and you don’t have to go it alone if you don’t want to. We’d like to suggest our services to you, should you be interested, simply let us know.

Scam emails are sent out into the world with abundance, and have been for many years. As if junk mail, and scam callers weren’t bad enough, they will also reach out to you through your private emails. It seems like there is no escape from these sorts of things as they far too often make their way around the spam filter. While a seemingly endless nuisance with sinister intent, a little education will help you deal with them once and for all.

For those that are less educated in this topic, take note that scam emails can pose a very serious threat. What can seem like a harmless inquiry, or contact from a known source, can soon turn out to be something far more sinister. In fact, you may find yourself with major headaches for several years to come after your dealings with these emails. How can you combat this issue? First and foremost what you need is to be aware of the proper way to deal with these privacy invaders.

Picking Out The Scams

To start, you must learn how to identify the scam emails from the real ones. Once you get a grip on doing this you’ll be in a much better position. It’s important to know that their main tactic is to try and appear to be from companies or other sources that you might trust. That could be your bank, credit card company, the government, e-commerce stores, social media, etc. Essentially this is the lure with which they tempt you.

From here they try and spin a story for you, one that inspires urgency to act or face severe repercussions. Some common yarns they will spin for you are the following:

• Suspicious activity on your account
• Asking to confirm your personal and private information
• Fake invoices that need to be paid
• Trouble with the law unless you click here now
• An offer to claim free products or services

Oftentimes the spelling and grammar in the email is poor as well, and the greeting will be fairly generic, lacking that personal touch you’d get from a recognizable source. The senders address usually looks very suspicious as well, since they are unable to actually use the proper and official email address of whatever organization they are acting as.

Reacting To The Scams

The best thing you can do is try to identify scam emails from their subject line so you don’t need to open them in the first place. This will help to avoid any nasty surprises that may be within when you open them. Sometimes opening an email will send a notification back to the sender, so they will know there is someone on the other end, and you may start getting more. Should you get capable of doing this, simply delete the emails without opening them.

Since that’s not always an option, and you may have to open them to identify what it is, we’d recommend keeping an updated antivirus software on your device. This will help protect you from anything within. Keep your operating system updated as well to avoid any security issues that might come with having an older version. If unauthorized access to your accounts is an issue on your mind, you can set up two-factor authentication to get a notification, and one time code, whenever a login attempt is made.

To Summarize

Remember to keep a sharp eye on the emails you are getting, and avoid opening anything suspicious where possible. Delete them if you’re confident in your identification, and keep your security strong and updated for times when you are not sure. Scam emails pose a serious problem, but it is one that is entirely manageable.

With 2021 well underway now, many businesses would take this time to settle any leftover affairs from the previous year. Before you get caught under another year’s worth of records, you should take care of the old stuff now. But what if that is quite a lot of information needing to be destroyed? Don’t feel daunted by that proposition, help is available to you.

The amount of records you have, be it a little or a lot, is of no issue here. The main issue is swiftness of action when dealing with secure documents. Enter a document purge. It’s the perfect opportunity to clean a house in one swoop. So let’s get you on your way.

Gathering The Documents

Hopefully you’ve already got some manner of document handling policy at your workplace that can give you a head start. If not, then gathering up the records might be a bit of a pain, but it is a necessary pain if you want to properly destroy the documents. We won’t go into what documents you need to gather here, as you should hopefully know that by now, but if you need guidance then just take anything with private information on it that isn’t needed for retention purposes.

Once gathered, keep them together in a secure location until you are ready to shred. This could be a shred bin, a drawer with a good stout lock on it, or something else that will ward people away. Hopefully it’s not something someone can just casually walk off with either! You don’t need to worry about separating out staples, paper clips, folders, etc, as the shredders will have no issue in chomping down on these.

Time To Shred

Make sure you are choosing to work with a reputable shredding company. Check out their certifications and see what reviews they have from clients they worked with. Look specifically for the NAID AAA Certification.

Once you’ve selected, make your appointment, and sit back and watch the magic happen. Most shred providers will come to your location with a shred truck and destroy the papers right before your eyes. It’s a real sight to behold. When the job is done you will be awarded a certificate of destruction to be kept in your records. This is your proof that you have met the compliance commitments for the safe handling of private documents.

After that, we’ll see you next time you need to purge!

Office managers and business owners know that in several cases it can be challenging to stay on top of the nitty gritty details in relations to daily operations that occur in the workplace. While this is quite common for upper management, it unfortunately can also be detrimental to those companies that are faced with security vulnerabilities, which is typically the case for the majority of businesses these days we might add!

The best approach to tackle this project in the New Year is by first formulating a checklist of security-oriented processes that can enhance the security of your business information; whether that is in electronic or document format. In the United States many businesses are subject to federal and / or state legislation that  penalties for failing to properly handle information and data leaks (FACTA and HIPAA are two such notable laws, although there are many more.)

If you are worried about the status of your sensitive workplace information, consider some of the following guidelines to help get started and of course to assist in overall security;

• Perform risk analysis. This may be one of the most critical steps you can take as an office manager or business owner; without thorough investigation as to how and where confidential information is being stored and handled, identifying where there are problem areas or risks is essentially impossible. You can only fix problems when you are aware of their existence!

• Consider using an employee screening process. Prior to hiring, reviewing an employee’s history through the form of references and criminal background checks is quite common and in many industries, is highly suggested. Specifically we recommend you do so if the individual being hired will have regular access to sensitive material because of their job role; such as a receptionist for instance.

• Establish an effective plan. Implementing office-wide policies that encourage responsible information management and organization (such as a clean desk policy) is an excellent place to begin. The results of your risk analysis will largely guide the design of your plan to resolve and maintain fixes to any risk your office could be facing.

One effective component that many organizations implement into their plans is professional document shredding services. Placing lockable bins that maintain the security of your old records around your office, means your staff can quickly and easily discard papers here for shredding. In doing so you can rest assured that they will be protected from curious eyes and/or from being disposed of incorrectly such as in the garbage where they are completely vulnerable to theft.

Ready to ensure your office is secure, organized and clutter-free as we nearly enter 2021? You won’t regret this decision and our experts will make the entire process as easy as possible.

From the entire team at Chesapeake Paper Systems, we wish you a wonderful Holiday Season and best wishes for the New Year!

Most Maryland organizations are aware of the importance when it comes to safely disposing of business records. It’s simply critical that any records containing information about your customers, employees, marketing plans, and other private details are securely shred before disposal. Why? Confidential business documents contain valuable details and if disclosed unknowingly, could lead to substantial consequences for your organization’s reputation and its ability to grow as a business.

You might be wondering why an office shredder doesn’t offer the same level of security as a document shredding company. While taking a staff member to look after your internal paper shredding needs may seem like a practical and effective answer, it can result in more problems than it’s worth.

Why Should You Avoid Office Shredders? Here are 5 Disadvantages

It’s Costly: When turning to your office shredder for ongoing document shredding, you’ll find that your costs will actually increase over time, more so than if you were to outsource this job to professionals. When you consider operation costs, maintenance, and electricity, plus the employee time that’s needed to complete the task, what you thought was saving you money is actually doing quite the opposite. A professional shredding company like Chesapeake Paper Systems in Maryland is happy to provide you with savings that are intangible, allowing your team to focus on the job duties they were hired to perform in the first place.

Shredding Isn’t Certified: Unlike in-house document shredding, a professional document shredding company also comes with certified proof after each shred job, which outlines all aspects of the destruction process that were carried out securely and in compliance. When paper shredding is completed with an office shredder, it’s rarely recorded. As a result, there is no guarantee that the shredding was performed efficiently and in accordance with privacy legislation. This could cause potential issues down the road should your office be audited. You may even experience further problems if the in-house operator is accused of handling a document incorrectly or violating regulations set out under key industry legislation, such as FACTA/HIPAA. For your security, Chesapeake Paper Systems in Maryland will provide safe and reliable document shredding solutions that follow a strict chain of custody.

Lack of Background Checks: Nobody wants to believe that their employees are untrustworthy, and asking them to shred documents may seem like an easy enough job, correct? It’s important to remember, however, that chances are they were not screened in the same manner that professional shredding specialists are which could be bad news. Unfortunately, employment fraud is on the rise and it can be a risky decision to task one of your employees to be responsible for such a task. The professional team at Chesapeake Paper Systems places all specialists under a criminal record check, as well as a detailed background check prior to hiring. Our professionals consist of skilled, highly qualified individuals that have extensive experience in providing safe and secure document shredding procedures.

Destruction Isn’t Monitored: when shredding in-house, it can be challenging to have an additional staff member witness the destruction take place, as this removes them from productive business duties, and the majority of companies can’t afford to do this, nor want to. When an employee isn’t monitored appropriately throughout the shredding procedure, it’s fairly easy to lazily toss files into the garbage can instead, simply due to convenience. This act is a serious security threat to your organization and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. When you partner with Chesapeake Paper Systems, we welcome and encourage you to witness your content being destroyed from the beginning of the process through until completion. Our mobile document shredding services give you the opportunity to view the entire shredding process for assurance and peace of mind.

Reduced Security: Document shredding providers such as Chesapeake Paper Systems supply your business with lockable security containers discouraging any unauthorized access to your sensitive records. All sensitive material stays 100% secure until containers reach capacity and are ready to be collected for emptying. These containers are great for deterring prying eyes from viewing information that’s deemed private. Turning to a professional shredding provider also contributes to involvement in smart document disposal among your employees. The shred containers serve as the perfect reminder to secure any sensitive documents that are no longer needed, rather than tossing them carelessly in the trash. There is little security with an office shredder because sensitive documents are often still placed in piles on desks, or situated by the printing station out in the open. This exposure could lead to lost or stolen records, which could negatively impact your business.

Trust The Professionals

As professionals, we know how to keep your information safe from information theft and will keep you in compliance with the regulations. Contact us to arrange shredding when you need it!

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!