Mistakes happen, but data breaches can be avoided. In this blog, we offer strategies for avoiding document disposal mistakes that can lead to identity theft and business fraud.

1. Failing to Document Your Final Disposition Practices

State and federal regulations require businesses that handle personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) to document their final disposition practices. Professional shredding offers third-party verification of your final disposition practices. Your shredding provider gives you a Certificate of Destruction with the time, date, and method of destruction. A Certificate of Destruction records what was destroyed, when and how. It supports your audit and due-diligence files but does not by itself establish legal compliance.

2. Relying on a Paper Shredding Machine

A store-bought paper shredder may seem like a quick solution for your document disposal needs, but it may put your information at risk. With the right software, dumpster divers can reassemble your shredded documents and retrieve confidential data. A professional shredding service offers a strict chain of custody from collection to destruction.

Your shredding provider uses industrial-grade shredders to shred your documents into tiny particles, then mixes them with particles from other sources to make them impossible to reconstruct.

3. Not Partnering with a NAID AAA Certified Shredding Company

Not every shredding company is . The National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) provides oversight for the shredding and destruction industry. To achieve NAID AAA Certification, a shredding company must pass audits by third-party security professionals to confirm their compliance with the following requirements:

• Personnel screening practices
• Equipment and facility safety
• Liability Insurance

Security-screened professionals collect and destroy your documents within a strict chain of custody, and the facility is under video surveillance. Richards & Richards provides NAID AAA Certified shredding and destruction for businesses in Nashville and Middle Tennessee, with documented handling from pickup to Certificate of Destruction.

4. Careless Recycling of Confidential Files

Corporate recycling programs help protect the environment, but can also lead to confidential information falling into the wrong hands. A professional shredding company destroys your documents and recycles your shredded waste. They bring locked containers to your office, so documents with staples, paperclips, and sticky notes can be safely discarded.

A background-screened and insured shredding technician collects the container contents weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly, for certified destruction. After destroying your documents, your provider combines paper shreds from various sources, bales the shredded waste, and transfers it to an authorized recycling company to be pulped and made into new paper products.

Richards & Richards offers shredding and destruction services for businesses throughout Nashville.

For more information about our shredding services, please call us at 615-242-9600 or complete the form on this page.