Identity theft is a very real concern for any business, but it's particularly problematic for companies that rely on paper documents. Improper disposal of paper documents can leave businesses and staff at risk of identity theft because criminals can retrieve important information from the discarded documents. That is why it's absolutely crucial to properly dispose of important documents - and that means more than just standard shredding.
In this article, we're going to look at the risks of identity theft for businesses that still use paper documents and outline why it is important to use secure paper shredding companies to dispose of your workplace documents.
Criminals are able to collect and compile personal information, secure data and other sensitive information from documents that have been improperly disposed of. Information from bank statements, old receipts and other documents can help criminals compile a profile that they can then use to commit identity theft.As well as the inherent risk of identity theft, businesses that don’t dispose of sensitive information securely are running the risk of breaching GDPR regulations. If an identity thief obtains customer information, for example, then the company could end up in hot water legally and impact their brand reputation.
The problem of identity theft doesn’t stop at the individual level either. Companies are just as susceptible to identity theft as customers, and it is becoming a growing problem for businesses to become victims of identity theft themselves. What may appear to be non-sensitive information on business documents can be used for identity theft. Criminals can create fraudulent versions of companies using a few details gleaned from documents. From here, they can take out loans, lure in customers by impersonating the company and ruin a company's reputation in the process.
Taking the right steps to properly dispose of sensitive documents in the workplace is vital to preventing identity theft. Any documents that contain personal information about staff or customers should be shredded once they are used or stored in a secured cabinet where they can be disposed of professionally.
Although at-home shredders may seem to offer a solution to this issue, professional identity thieves can gather shredded paper and re-compile it to make legible copies of documents. The only way to safely dispose of these documents is to use a secure shred solution to effectively remove the threat of identity theft in the workplace.
If you would like to protect your business from the threat of identity theft, contact our specialists at Hungry Shredder today to discuss your requirements.
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