In a world where everything goes online, where we have been accustomed to filling out our personal data on automated forms, where paper forms feel like old relics, we still need shredding. It remains one of our greatest lines of defence in an increasingly digital age as personal information becomes more accessible and vulnerable.
Relying on Professional Services
You could shred the documents yourself and be content in the safe disposal. But there are many strict procedures to ensure that data is gone forever, never to be recovered. For maximum efficiency, you should hire a professional shredding service who takes great care in ensuring the data protection guidelines are put in place. They come with specialised equipment and an efficient process that promises anonymity and discretion for all parties. At the very least, you will risk incurring the wrath of GDPR. So, if you’re looking at increasing your data protection policies, your first port of call should be hiring out a shredding paper London service.
Human Error
It is alarming how many disasters and data breaches have been bought about because of human error rather than malicious data thieves. There was a case in 2014 in which cases from children’s social workers employed by a county council were left in a filing cabinet that had been donated to a charity shop as part of an office move. Thankfully, the authorities were contacted and the files were discovered by the new owner. But more malicious hands might have taken a different approach. And there had been no written procedure in place for that kind of scenario. Had the documents been correctly disposed of, the whole situation could have been avoided and the council wouldn’t have been fined £60,000.
One way situations like this can be avoided in the future is if all employees are adequately trained in the disposal of personal data. Rather than have them scratching their heads about which documents need to be destroyed, it makes more sense for all of them to be destroyed.
A Simplified Process
The removal of data online can be quite a taxing process. You may have to go through various firewalls and checks, and even then you might not be sure whether the data is truly gone. In a world of hackers, nothing is ever truly gone. But you don’t have to worry about that with shredding. And while paper is recyclable, there are procedures in place that prohibit placing paper containing confidential information in the recycling bin. Therefore, by shredding, you’ll be hindering any attempts for information to be used with criminal intent.
Within your workplace, you need to be promoting a culture of security, especially if your work entails data entry and administrative duties. By maintaining a strict shredding policy, you promote an efficient ethic; safeguard your clients ultimately improving your business reputation. And of course, you don’t have to worry about the fines that come from misappropriating sensitive data.
