If you handle sensitive data in your office, as the majority of businesses do, you may be tempted to buy a basic paper shredder and use this to destroy your sensitive documents. However, there are a number of problems with doing this, and it is always better to use a professional secure shredding service to destroy your sensitive information. Here’s why.
Avoid Employee Errors
If an employee takes responsibility for destroying your sensitive data, they may not do it effectively enough. They may forget to destroy some documents, or they may even cut corners, leading to sensitive data ending up in the rubbish. In the worst-case scenario, they might even steal the data. Shredding documents professionally avoids this risk.
Total Destruction
Office shredding machines are fine for documents that are not very sensitive, but they do not destroy paper documents to the same standard as professional shredding machines. Heavy-duty shredders cut the paper up into a pulp to completely destroy it, making retrieving any data from the documents impossible.
Destroy All Forms of Data
If you get into the habit of destroying sensitive data in your office, what happens when you have other types of devices to destroy, such as hard drives? You may attempt to destroy these yourself as well, but this is not as simple to do and if you make a mistake it could lead to your private data becoming accessible. Try to get into the habit of destroying everything on a regular basis using a professional service to avoid this risk.
Compliance with Data Protection Act
You need to be able to prove that you are compliant with the Data Protection Act if you handle personal data. If some of your personal data gets out and you are found to have been using an office shredder to destroy your most sensitive personal documents, you could find yourself landed with a heavy fine. With a professional service, you will receive a certificate of destruction to prove that you were taking all reasonable preventative measures.
Use It As a Selling Point
More than ever, customers want to know that their data is secure. You can use your secure data destruction as a selling point so that your customers know that you take their data security seriously and they won’t have to worry about their personal details being lost in a data breach.
Save Work Hours
If you are shredding lots of sensitive data, your employees are wasting time doing something that you can outsource. Let them spend their hours doing what they do best rather than wasting time on areas like shredding, and you could find that you are able to save money.
Don’t Just Use an Office Shredder
It’s fine to use an office shredder for documents that are not particularly sensitive, but for your more sensitive data you should always consider getting it destroyed by a professional secure shredding service. Having your data accessed by the wrong people is simply not worth the risk, so make sure you use a professional service.
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