How college students can protect their identity – Presidential Election or not

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While the US presidential election is heating up as it comes to the closing weeks, identity theft is still being committed at seriously high rates.

In this article we will take you away from the US Republic and Democrat debates, campaigns and news to highlight some handy tips for college students to protect their identity. It is more than simply availing of a confidential paper shredding service or completing your document destruction at home with an onsite paper shredding service

Amongst all of the people that are vulnerable of being victim of identity theft, college students are possible the highest risk sample. All young and mature students need to be made aware of this so they are armed with the appropriate information to protect themselves and their identity.

Even with the majority of students across the world tending to be “strapped for cash” this does not dis-incentivise these thieves from attempting to steal their identity. In the majority of cases these thieves only want to take advantage of a clean credit record. Below there some brief points on how students can become aware and safe against identity theft.

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  1. Always ensure that personal sensitive mail is only sent to your personal email address. College emails can be extremely vulnerable to hacking. When your old computers are being replaced, always avail of a hard-drive shredding service where the data bearing hard-drive is securely destroyed and the data is irretrievable.
  1. Store important documents under lock and key. Keep them safe and secure and once you no longer require them always, always have them securely destroyed through a shredding company. Never just throw these document away, there are a number of solutions available to have these document destroyed. Examples would be an onsite paper shredding service, an offsite paper shredding service as long as the service is certified for confidential data destruction service
  1. Never allow other people to borrow your credit card, even if it is a family member. Another handy point is to never be a co-signer for any loans.
  1. Always have up to date anti-virus on your computer devices.
  1. Credit card and debit card statements, review regularly for any suspicious activity.
  1. Only shop on familiar websites. You should always be certain that the business is legitimate.

For any further information upon how to protect your identity please contact one of the Security in Shredding team and visit our website www.securityinshredding.com

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Five tips for Data Protection Compliance

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With the introduction of The General Data Protection Regulation this year it is essential for Organisations to know that they are complying with the legislation. The first step in compliance is awareness and this article will give a brief overview of some tips to take into account to protect your Organisation. From data consent to third party data processing such as a confidential paper shredding service, I aim to guide you in the right direction.

A. Consent

Always obtain the data subjects consent prior to holding or using their personal data. All forms both physical and web-based which are designed to gather personal information should contain a statement detailing what the information is to be used for.

B. Sensitive data

When dealing with sensitive personal (race, political opinion, mental health etc.) data additional measures should be in place to ensure the security of the data. When this data has reached its end of life always securely destroy the data through a paper shredding service.

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C. Individual rights

Be aware of individual’s rights when dealing with information held upon them. If preparing reports always be aware that individuals have the right to see all personal data held about them which also includes emails and informal notes that have not gone through your document shredding service in place.

D. Review files

Data should only be retained when and where absolutely necessary. Securely disposal of the data once it is no longer required through an onsite paper shredding service and/or an offsite shredding service with a data processing firm and under contract. Establish and record regular reviews of the data in your control.

E. Secure disposal of records

When discarding waste data in paper format it is imperative to treat them confidentially. Never discard end of life data with conventional recycling streams. Waste paper data is not the same as general sorted office waste (SOW) before it is destroyed due to the fines and penalties attached to them for a breach. Always hire a professional paper shredding company to secure shred all documents and receive a certificate of data processing. The same applies to waste electronic data carriers such as hard-drives, always securely destroy them through a hard drive shredding service.

For any advice upon data protection and making your Organisation compliant please do not hesitate to contact one of our team through our website www.securityinshredding.com.

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Clear Out Shredding (Purge Service) In Limerick & Galway

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We may not like to admit it but we accumulate clutter at home and around the office. Purging documents or a Clear out Service can be used to remove your old and expired documents. The greater the amount of paper accumulated the greater the risk of a data breach.

You may have picked up an interesting flyer or printed out a document to use at a later date. Leaving a work or private document aside and use at a later stage. This process continues and repeats. When you decide to deal with the build up, it can be a daunting task to deal with.

Why Remove Your Clutter?

There are many reasons to remove your clutter both security and health reasons. A cluttered environment can be stressful and stress has many negative health effects on your body and mind. To name a few,

  • increase blood pressure.
  • reduce your immune and digestive system.
  • Increase risk of heart attack and stroke.

Security issues such as data breaches can occur if private documents are not disposed of correctly. If a data breach occurs, you are required by law to report it to the Data Protection Commissioner. Failure to do so can result in a hefty fine on your business.

Lifehacker is a website on how to’s and have an easy to follow article on removing clutter in your office. LifeHacker: The End All Guide To to Getting Out From Under Office Crap These guidelines can help you with getting a grasp on the clutter and dealing with the mentioned issues

There is also another method of dealing with the clutter.

Security In Shredding on site service

Confidential Shredding Service

Confidential shredding specialists in Limerick & Galway are available to do on site shredding of any and all documents. This method will remove all your unwanted documents, safe in the knowledge that any and all private documents are destroyed beyond recognition.

This eliminates the risk of a data breach and the potential of a large fine for your business. Our trucks are available for scheduled service and do the shredding process on site.

On site may not suit your set up and a bag collection service is also available. The sealed secure bags are then brought to our shredding machine at out location and a document of destruction certificate will be sent to you to confirm the shredding.

For more information on or clear out service or any other shredding service, please contact our team by emailing us any question or query.

Email us at: info@securityinshredding.com

Methods To Improve Data Security, Galway & Limerick

Data protection service AND DATA DESTRUCTION

Data Security is hugely important to businesses and organisations. Confidential shredding experts are readily available to handle and destroy your documents thus providing data security. Paper or document shredding is one method of data security but digital data is also important to protect.

Among US firms, reports only 2.4 percent of the organisations that experienced a breach had encryption or other strong protection methods in use, and only 8.5 percent of the breached information was password protected.

Which begs the question why aren’t more organisations password protecting and encrypting data? Some are complacent, while others falsely believe their data is already properly protected. Another is that some organisations fear having to spend large sums of money and time on new software or hardware to properly encrypt data.

Start With a Good Data Protection Policy

A good data protection policy involves just five things:

  1. Instituting good security and privacy policies for collecting, using and storing sensitive information.
  1. Using strong encryption when storing information on computers and laptops.
  1. Limiting who has access to sensitive information.
  1. Safely purging old or outdated sensitive information.
  1. Having an incident response plan in case a breach occurs.

In addition to the above, organisations should have firewalls, anti-spyware and antivirus protection in place and kept up to date; refrain from using wireless networking technologies (WiFi) where applicable; and truncate data so that sensitive information is not used where it is not needed.

Above all, make sure you have secure, encrypted ways of obtaining and storing sensitive information — and employ encryption protocols and encrypt all sitting / stored data.

Data Destruction & Data Encryption

Encrypt, Encrypt, Encrypt

Encryption has become a keyword regarding digital devices. Smartphones are now encrypted as standard and recent events have caused governing bodies to enquire with the smartphone companies to give them access as the encryption prevents them from doing so.

Laptops, mobile devices and USB’s can have disk encryption on them but due to their physical size, the devices can be target to theft and or lost easily. This form of encryption can be more expensive to purchase.

Software applications such as WhatsApp and now Facebook messenger are incorporating end to end encryption on their platform. Facebook’s is not incorporated yet but will be in the coming months. There are many more security apps out there with encryption and other security measures enabled as standard. Small bit or research will benefit your data security in the  long run.

With encryption software there is more of a focus on encryption of data rather than the device itself.

The Data Destruction Dilemma

To truly ensure your data is destroyed, hard drives are crushed into tiny pieces beyond repair. Formatting and purging the drive does not completely erase the data.

But what about the cost of purchasing self-encrypted drives? This is becoming a topical issue. Firstly self encrypting drives, do offer excellent security and equal performance to standard drives. They are also affordable.

If the data is stored and all the security and encryption enabled, still runs the risk of a data breach. Technology can do many things but human error will be an ever present issue. Prevention is better than cure. A hard drive destruction service will ensure data is destroyed with no issue of data retrieval.

Confidential shredding services in Galway or Limerick areas are available to for on site shredding. For more information on our shredding services,

Email us at : info@securityinshredding.com

 

 

Paper Shredding Limerick & The Importance of Uniforms

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Our data processing team operate a confidential shredding service in uniform throughout all our Limerick based clients. Uniforms also exist outside the workplace, Limerick GAA (the shannonsiders) iconic green jersey can also be considered a uniform. The reasons for wearing a uniform do have their benefits which are listed below.

Uniforms for Corporate Branding

Having a distinctive uniforms in the colours associated with the company can assist in the establishment of an impression in the mind of the consumer. Security in Shredding’s uniforms help to identify its employee’s as individuals who are associated with it and its services, and it helps to brand the company by distinguishing it from the competition. Consistency in employee’s appearance can create a positive impression on the customer and contribute to the projection of the Security in Shredding’s corporate image.

Uniforms for Portraying Competence

Uniforms can enable customers to identify employees eliminating the possibility of a customer mistakenly asking a member of the public for help. Employees wearing a uniform encourage confidence in the client by portraying the individual is a professional with service knowledge and an eagerness to help. A uniform puts the force of the corporate reputation behind the individual, making him look reliable and trustworthy as a company representative.

Uniforms to Promote Security

Just as a Gardaí or Army uniform identifies an officer, Security in Shredding’s uniform identifies its employees who are out onsite conducting a service call or delivery to a client’s premises.

Uniforms to Eliminate Dress Codes

Having a compulsory requirement for Security in Shredding’s employees to wear its uniform eliminates the need for creating and enforcing a dress code. Enforcing a dress code can lead to hard feelings on the part of employees who are told that their attire is not appropriate for the workplace.

Overall it is important to Security in Shredding that its employees are always dressed in uniform for their job roles and are neat and tidy at all times. Security in Shredding provide a professional and secure data destruction service nationwide.

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Your data security is our priority. We operate throughout Limerick and Limerick county. We also provide on site shredding in all major cites in Ireland. For more information on a secure document shredding service, please visit our site for more information.

6 Steps To Improve Your Data Security

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Data is King. Protecting your data comes in many forms. Your confidential document shredding specialist will securely destroy any sensitive documents. Data protection is equally important as data destruction. IBM are a leading High Tech company and provide you with relevant information and software to improve your security.

IBM Security solutions for data security and privacy provide a holistic approach that helps prevent data loss while enabling data access to support business operations, growth and innovation. These solutions help you ensure regulatory compliance, defend against internal and external attacks, and can lower storage and data management costs.

IBM Security solutions for data security and privacy enable a layered approach to achieving data security that helps you:

IBM also provide a free software for you to assess and detect vulnerabilities. The software will detect weak passwords, any misconfiguration on your database. Read more about it here: https://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/security-guardium-vulnerability-assessment  

While IBM methods deal with digital data the crossovers and similarities can be applied to your paper data. Paper shredding services will also offer digital data protection and knowledge. Knowing these risks and implementing the steps to prevent a data breach will benefit your business or organisation in the long run.

Technology terminology can be confusing to understand but implementing security measures for digital devices is pretty straight forward. For more information on a data protection and security please contact us or visit our site for more information.

Adopting A Secure Document Shredding Strategy For Business

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A secure document shredding policy is integral to any business and protecting customer data is legislative. The Data Protection Commissioner implements the provisions of EU Directive 95/46. Not only are these regulations that require businesses to shred documents securely, but it is also part of running a business and maintaining a positive business reputation.

Why Businesses Need To Securely Destroy Documents?

Every day, companies create paper documents and these documents require shredding. Practically any document that contains data and especially sensitive data needs to be shredded. In particular data containing the following would be regarded as sensitive data:

  • Person’s Name
  • Address
  • contact information
  • Account Details
  • Credit Card Details
  • Budget Reports
  • Medical Reports
  • Payroll information
  • Legal contracts
  • Receipt Information

This is a snippet of what data to shred any and all documents should be securely destroyed by a secure document shredding service.

How This Data Can Be Used Against You?

Not only is forgery and fraud a major issue but also there is of course the potential for bad publicity, loss of customers and lawsuits to name but a few of the dangers. Identity theft is a common issue with data breaches. Criminals will use this data to either make purchases or obtain more data under the pretence of your name.
It is important that all businesses shred or destroy certain sensitive documents. Law enforcement, legal industries, government agencies, banks, health care providers, insurance providers, financial brokers, and real estate are just a few industries where managing paperwork is crucial.

How To Manage Business Documents Safely & Effectively?

A detailed security policy for every type of document your business handles is essential and employees need to know these policies before starting work.

For example:

What are the shredding requirements for the various document types that your company frequently uses? What are employees allowed to photocopy? Incorporating a reputable Confidential Shredding Company that has a good track record. While also training employees about the correct method of destroying sensitive documents and ensuring correct secure policies about how long to hold and when to destroy documents.  Access to company records should be controlled and restricted to a small number of trusted individuals and there should be rules relating to access of these records. A notification or logging system can also be in place to account for what and where data is being used.

At Security In Shredding we operate throughout Ireland and frequently do business in areas of Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford areas.

For a more information on Shredding confidential paper Services & data destruction service, please visit: www.securityinshredding.com

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Earth Day – Friday 22nd April 2016

Shredding Event & recycling

A paper shredding event in Limerick today. Recycling office paper is one of the simplest ways a workplace can do its bit to contribute to helping protect the environment and celebrate Earth Day 2016.

Security in Shredding is assisting Limerick City and County Council by participating in a waste prevention and recycling event at Mungret Recycling Centre from 1pm to 3pm. Not only are the members of Security in Shredding team going to be there to destroy your confidential documents but they will be there to assist both householders and SME’s with any questions they may have regarding the importance of data protection.

The question we need to ask ourselves is does your recycling process protect your confidential information?

“Earth Day was started in 1970 as a way to focus attention on the environmental problems on our planet. This year the Council is holding an event focusing on the 5 R’s, namely Rethink, Reuse, Restore, Repair and Recycle.”

In 1970, the movement gave voice to an emerging consciousness, channelling human energy toward environmental issues. Forty-six years later, we continue to lead with groundbreaking ideas and events throughout the country.

As security breaches are at an all-time high, it is extremely important that every workplace makes data security a priority in the day to day running of their business and incorporate green office strategies and resourcefulness in the actions and celebration of Earth Day every year.

This great public event provides SME’s and householders with a great opportunity to have their confidential paper material shredded on-site to promote Earth Day and the importance of Data Protection. “Shredded paper recycling, for example, saves trees. In fact, every two consoles of shredded and recycled paper saves one tree.”

So call down to Mungret Recycling Centre on the 22nd of April 2016 and avail of the fantastic facilities that are available to celebrate Earth Day 2016.

Security in Shredding look forward to meeting you there and answering any questions you may have. Join in on the conversation at @securityinshred

Top 5 Workplace Security Tips

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Workplace Security does not just mean a simple office shredder. Data Protection comes in many forms and is worth knowing these methods.

Data Protection is an important part of business practice. Paper shredders are often used to shred confidential documents. Your standard office shredder does not provide adequate security when shredding. An Industrial paper shredding service will provide a secure document destruction method for your business to use.

Along with paper shredding, there are many other forms of security you and your business can incorporate into everyday practice. We live in an age where data breaches are becoming more and more common which makes protecting this data ever more important. Digital data is now an area of protection and is often overlooked. These over sights is what cyber criminals will prey on and thus a Data Breach will occur causing severe damage to your business reputation.

 

Tip 1: Outsource your secure and confidential document destruction requirements to a certified professional Data Processor whom is reputable and reliable.

Tip 2: Enquire with your current data destruction provider about their e-media services. Hard drives and other types of media should either be shredded or crushed to ensure all the electronic data is securely destroyed and beyond reconstruction. If your service provider does not provide same, contact a member of our team whom are more than happy to help with your enquiry.

Tip 3: Choose a Service Provider that uses secure certified document destruction technologies, lockable consoles and/or locked 240 Litre wheelie bins, issue Data Processing Certificates and operate with a secure chain of custody.

Tip 4: Appoint a Data Compliance Officer in your Organisation whom is responsible for ensuring compliance regarding the correct management of both paper data and digital data within an organisation.

Tip 5: Conduct regular staff refresher training days regarding the importance of information security and the processes associated with same. Have training material prepared and on hand for induction training when new employees begin.

 

For more information on paper shredding and confidential document destruction in Ireland please visit: www.securityinshredding.com

Responding To Data Breaches

Secure Paper Shredding Hard Drive Shredding WEEE Destruction

Paper Data;

Without a confidential document shredding service in place for shredding documents and media devices. Your company or business may become under scrutiny for not having these defensive measures in place to begin with.

It is common practice for a business to securely deal with paper documents in its handling, who can access it and how it is destroyed. Most businesses and organisations will incorporate a reputable paper shredding service and these processes are all above board.

Digital Data;

This trend is still widely used but not with the increase in use of mobile devices globally. Digital Data has become the preferred use of displaying data. How this information is used and the potential of this information being misused. Issues regarding digital use to be an “IT issue” but this is now no longer the case. Data Breaches and leaks have become more and more common due to lack of cyber protections in place. Lack of knowledge for one about cyber security is one factor that causes these issues.

Data Protection

A Data Protection strategy for digital and paper documents must be implemented throughout a business. There are governing bodies in place and bodies localised to your business and is worth knowing what procedures are in place for data protection. In Ireland the Data Protection Commissioner is a governing body directive from the EU.

“The office of the Data Protection Commissioner is established under the 1988 Data Protection Act.  The Data Protection Amendment Act, 2003, updated the legislation, implementing the provisions of EU Directive 95/46. The Acts set out the general principle that individuals should be in a position to control how data relating to them is used.”

The DPC provides guidelines for data protection and methods. If these measures are in place before a data breach occurs, it can save face for a business reputation and wont be scrutinised for not having these measurements in place to begin with.

The DPC site offers guidelines regarding Data Security both physically and digitally and the guidelines can be viewed here.

https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Guidance-Material-Menu-Page/m/219.htm

An Industrial Paper Shredding Service will provide you with credible Data Protection service please visit our site for more information:

Email us at info@securityinshredding.com