Reducing Your Chances of Identity Theft

Protecting Dallas-Forth Worth Residents and Businesses

Every time you toss a private document in the trash, you’ve unwittingly given someone an inside look at the personal details of your life. Simple information collected from discarded mail, credit card statements, and personal correspondence could quickly boil into a case of identity theft.

More often than not, fraud is considered a consumer risk, because companies are expected to perform their due diligence in safeguarding client information. In many cases though, this assumption is completely false, as consumer information is jeopardized when private businesses do not abide by federal privacy regulations.

It is important for both private residents and the companies they buy from to do everything in their power to reduce the chances of a confidentiality breach. Security consults around the country agree that document shredding is one essential prerequisite for meeting this goal.

Electronic vs. Physical Identity Theft

With the advent of computers, skilled hackers have exploited weak security protocols in online information systems to reveal our personal data. And every year, we hear about thousands of consumers that are put at risk when a single company is hacked.

The majority of modern identity theft is the result of online breaches, but experts estimate that as much as 20% of all identity theft cases originate from physical document theft. For thousands of Americans, that means criminals are stealing information directly from our trash, from our mailbox, or from inside our office itself. This leads to the startling conclusion that, in many cases, family members, friends, employees, and clients are the culprits behind identity fraud.

Online hacking tends to maximize the quantity of victims, affecting thousands of consumers at once, while physical document theft is usually committed to maximize the payoff from a single victim. Not to mention, while there are millions of victims of online breaches, physical document theft doesn’t require specialized skills, so it can happen anyplace, anytime.

Steps Your Business Can Take

For the same reason that retailers have entire loss prevention departments, every business should also have a framework for fraud prevention. Committing to document security requires only a minimal investment in time and money, saving your company big money compared to the financial losses of a data breach. Here are some steps your business can follow to minimize the chances of an information breach:

• Be Proactive: Your company should recognize that identity theft poses a real threat to the future of the business. Instead of acting after it’s too late, meet with other representatives in your business to discuss a preventative plan for identity theft, not a reactive plan.
• Make A Plan: Once your organization understands the consequences of irresponsible document-keeping, it can develop an institutionalized plan of action. This should be broken into 2 parts: document storage and document disposal.
• Make It Easy For Employees: As a business owner, some things are simply out of your control; that includes how employees will handle confidential documents. Your plan should be endorsed by the entire company, made an essential part of training, and enforced so that all employees understand the importance of the security program.
• Find A Reliable Partner: When it finally comes time to dispose of unneeded paperwork, you need a partner that you can count on. Hiring a certified professional shredder will save you time and money over a traditional office shredder and further minimize the chances of a data breach. If you are located in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, then there’s no better option than PROSHRED^®, the state’s leader in on-site mobile shredding solutions.