Sorting through paperwork in the office may get the best of us at times. All that paperwork, tedious as it may seem, is like gold to thieves who rummage through waste paper to attempt identity theft. A few bits of crucial information can be easily connected to conduct fraud which could threaten your business operations. Discarded waster paper can also result in leaks of company secrets and a loss of intellectual property.
Identity theft costs both individuals and businesses in Australia over $1.6 billion each year1. Much of this is preventable by securely disposing of waste paper. Over 75% of Australians throw away paper documents insecurely compromising their business and indeed their own identity2. Business owners are at risk of larger scale identity theft as fraud may go unnoticed for some time.
HR documents, customer information and personal staff files may seem the obvious documents to keep secure, even when no longer needed. Old legal contracts, purchase orders, operational manuals and timesheets might seem less valuable to thieves, but they can expose enough data on your business to enable fraud. Similarly, advertising budgets, product formulas or plans may expose valuable information to competitors.
Having a safe, secure and responsible system for the proper disposal of these documents will ensure your business, your employees and you yourself are not exposed to malicious behaviour.
Intershred takes the hassle, risk and the guesswork out of document shredding. We offer scalable services to suit organisations of all sizes, as well as households and individuals. All documents are taken by secure transport to an approved site where a comprehensive cross-cutting procedure reduces them to tiny fragments, which are then recycled to ensure total destruction of all data. At the end of the process you receive a Certificate of Destruction, guaranteeing that all your private information has been completely erased.
Call us on today on (02) 8880 8360 and find out how easy and cost-effective complete document destruction can be.
Sources:
- Australian Federal Police: Identity Crime https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/crime-types/fraud/identity-crime
- Newspoll Survey 2010
