There’s a lot of hype and public discussion about data breaches ever since the high profile hacks of prominent political parties and multinational corporations have hit the news headlines, but not all data breaches are the result of hacks. If an identity thief obtains personal info such as your name, address, and other personal information, they can drain your finances and cause you serious headaches.
Thankfully there are services available to keep your home safe, by shredding any sensitive information you have before it physically gets into the wrong hands. Plus, it’s never been easier to stay protected. Let’s take a look at the services today’s professional shredders offer.
Mobile Home Shredding
Companies in many industries now focus on home delivery, and professional paper shredders are no different. For small volumes to be shredded, they can eliminate them from right outside your home or office in their mobile shredding truck.
If you have larger volumes of paper that needs to be destroyed, they will still come to you, but they will securely transport it to their facilities to be shredded. Either way, you’ll never have to make plans for transporting heavy and cumbersome sensitive documents yourself.
Sensitive papers might include all kinds of ordinary documents that accumulate in the course of being a citizen, such as bank records, tax documents, papers containing user names and passwords, and more. If you work at home, the odds only increase that paper documents there need to be destroyed.
Shredding prevents business rivals from learning your trade secrets — if you have old contracts, business plans, ledgers, correspondence, or other sensitive work material in your home, get it eliminated today.
Data Shredding
Naturally, many people today have their sensitive information stored on electronic devices. It’s common to associate professional shredding with shredding paper, but actually today’s pros handle mobile document and data shredding including all electronic devices.
When you first think about electronic devices potentially storing sensitive data, you might consider things like computers, hard drives, and cell phones. But there are other electronics commonly storing data that you may not think pose a data risk, including: photocopier or printer memory cards, data tapes or back-up tapes, and more.
These electronics are common in offices, but you may have them throughout your home too, especially if you have a home office. If there are electronics on hand potentially storing sensitive data that you no longer use, the safest thing you can do to avoid an electronic data breach is have them professionally shredded.
The best companies have mobile destruction services for electronics too, and they’ll issue a certificate of destruction after the job is complete. This is a testament that the material you gave them to destroy no longer presents any liability.
With the increased paranoia of cyber attacks and hacks and other privacy concerns related to online tech giants, it’s important not to drop your guard in relation to non-digital threats. Keep your home protected this winter the easy way by calling a professional shredder.