The Houston Shredder

Document shredding prevents identity theft

shredding paper

Identity frauds are the growing concern of the information world today. We are already aware of the different means adopted by identity thieves for tapping into personal information that is sent electronically. However research has shown that identity frauds and business espionage are committed more from the information stolen from traditional paper based documents rather than electronic media. An individual’s credit rating and reputation are compromised, as are those of family members and business associates.

Strict laws are in place to punish identity thieves and law makers use efficient tracking methods to bring offenders to justice. These are always a step too late for the victims. So prevention is not just the best policy but it should be the only policy. Shredding documents helps eliminate this problem. Document shredding ensures that the paper based documents are kept from falling into the wrong hands. Shredded documents are impossible to reattach protecting the information the page contained.

Homes and Businesses alike accumulate document that need to be destroyed due to a number of factors. May be the information has turned outdated or you might have converted to an electronic media for storage or it might just be to make more space. The only safe method of discarding documents is to shred them, be it credit card or phone bills at home or delicate customer information.

Even a noble idea of recycling paper waste might impact your reputation or your business. Crumpling paper to discard, leaves open the sensitive information it contains at the mercy of thieves and competitors alike. Information thieves are not above dumpster diving. Shredded documents can be segregated for recycling instead. This ensures security as the document cannot be pieced together a second time.

Document shredding is not restricted to the print media. It extends to discarded CDs, hard drives, diskettes, DVDs, film, ID badges, X-rays, Binders, credit cards, video tapes and the list is endless. Any number of things that have out lived their use may contain a lot of personal information.

Professional shredding services are available to take on a bulk of work. This enables to save precious time and helps increase employee productivity. A professional service also eliminates time spent on segregating paper from binders. And it is fuss free and takes care of the hassle of dedicating valuable employee time. Most services offer onsite shredding that enable you to witness firsthand that your documents are indeed destroyed.

With importance of protecting private information and client interests being foremost in our minds shredding has come as an answer to a disturbing problem.

Shredding Services Houston – Advantages of paper shredding

shredding Services Houston

 

Advantages of document shredding or paper shredding

Identity thefts are one of the greatest concerns, today, all around the world. There is constant news of misuse of personal information coming from across the globe. Electronic medium of disbursing information is constantly revising their privacy policies and introducing high levels of encryption for their data. However, information theft is not local to the electronic media alone.

It would be surprising to note that majority of information thefts and business espionage still happen from the traditional paper documents. Disposal of these documents is now in focus as they contain plenty of sensitive information that could be misused. We are now aware that misuse of private information can lead to loss of respect and trust. These are recognized as the basis of businesses. Therefore, the focus now is not just on document disposal but efficient document disposal.

The most sought after method of document disposal is document shredding or paper shredding. Shredding of documents ensures that the important pages are turned into a mass of meaningless confetti. Shredders are a must in all businesses to protect the identity of client or their products.

It would be most disappointing to find that your competitor has gotten hold of your businesses’ new proposal data. Or there has been a leak from your client database. It would be embarrassing to have to inform your client or employee of the unfortunate leak of their private data. It would cause the personnel working for you and the client to distrust you in the future. A client might withdraw a contract or not approach you for further work.

Business espionage counts on your negligence to properly discard your documents for obtaining access to company secrets. It can result in great financial and client base loss if your competitor out quotes you. Many times one might throw suspicion on trustworthy employees when the mistake would be on sheer negligence. Such situations cause a bad taste on the part of the company and leave the employee displeased. A displeased employee may either show low productivity or might leave for a different job.

Such unpleasant situations can be prevented by adopting proper paper shredding methodologies. A safe disposal system guarantees a business against loss of personnel, finance and safe guard’s client details.

Paper Shredding in Houston – What to Shred

Document Shredding – Types of Documents to Shred

The world faces extreme challenges of terrorism, and identity thefts are becoming a menace that is abused frequently in terror acts. As a citizen of this world one has to take responsibility for the correct disposal of documents. There is now greater awareness for the need to shred documents.

Paper documents are readily recognizable documents that require shredding. This is already practiced in many organizations. We immediately think of legal organizations when we think of paper shredding. These images have been ingrained in our memory by the frequent use of such scenes in movies. However, it is a misconception that shredding is exclusive to such high level firms and their documents. Among this list of misconceptions is the kind of documents to be shred. Paper documents are not the only kind of documents that need to be disposed by shredding.

To understand the types of documents to be shred, one must first acquire an understanding of the different types of personal documents and the different media that is used for its storage. Personal and private documents range from contact details to details of medical treatments. It begins with the many recognized details of a person’s or client’s contacts. It extends from this to the project records, training manuals, presentation materials, home videos, medical scans, x-rays, treatment records, and many more.

The Medias used are not restricted either. It definitely starts with paper documents, IDs, credit cards, ATM cards, ID cards, x-ray sheets, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, Microfilm, film, prototypes, product samples, computer backups, hard disks, casino chips, money, lottery tickets, checks, pill bottles, misprints, clothing, shoes, toys, recalled items, and many more.

The media ranges from paper, plastics and metals. Any disposing of these materials must be done by the responsible shredding of the documents. Shredding and incinerating of the media makes them theft proof.

Paper Shredding and its history

paper shredding service

The paper shredders that are available today, are used widely in homes and offices for destroying various kinds of documents. These paper shredders are useful in cutting paper into very fine strips or chips so that there are no visible traces of the content on these documents. The shredding benefits of paper are used widely by different government organizations, business and private enterprises and even individuals. Shredding has become one of the best ways to destroy the private papers like credit card bills, bank statements and other private or sensitive documents that are confidential. Shredding of these documents also helps in reducing the risks of identity thefts.

The history of the paper shredder goes back to almost a century ago. The first paper shredder had been invented by the prolific Abbot Augustus Low from Horseshoe New York. At that time the device to destroy these paper documents was known as the ‘waste paper receptacle’ and it had also been patented. This device provided a better way of improving the methods of paper disposable and waste paper. The patent had been filed on the 2^nd of February, 1909 and the patent for the same was received on the 31^st of August with the patent number 929,960. But the invention of Augustus was never manufactured.

Then the paper shredder by Adolf Ehinger was made. This shredder had been based on the popular pasta maker and it had been manufactured in Germany in 1935. It is said that Aodlf had to shred some of his anti Nazi propaganda so that inquiries from the authorities could be avoided. The shredder had been marketed to various government and financial agencies. This device was then converted from hand crank to electric motor. The first cross-cut paper shredders had been made in the year 1959 by EBA Maschinenfabrik, which was owned by Adolf. The company continues to make paper shredders till date in the name of EBA Krug & Priester GmbH & Co. in Balingen.

The U.S embassy in Iran would use strip cut paper shredders for shredding paper. Till the 1980’s the use of paper shredders had been used mainly by non government institutions. After the 1984 judgment of the Supreme Court, where the court stated that the fourth amendment does not prohibit the warrant-less seizure of garbage from homes, the use of these paper shredders became more popular and are used widely now.

Paper Shredding in Homes

There are various options for paper shredding in Houston offices, but the need of paper shredding in Houston homes, is equally important and necessary. Like most of the other states the trend of shredding paper has just about set in many homes. Earlier the application of paper shredding in Houston was restricted to the government offices, where confidential papers on national security or other such documents would be shredded. But after the 1984 amendment by the Supreme Court which permitted the seizure of garbage from homes, there has been an increased use of shredding machines in both, homes and offices.

There are various reasons why paper shredding in Houston homes is required. One of the most vital reasons is the growing rates of crimes like identity theft. These crimes are the easiest to commit and they also provide for financial crunches which are not even possible with regular crimes. For example, the disposals of your credit card statement in the garbage, can fall into the hands of unwanted people. This would mean that all the information in the statement, including the credit card number, can be misused. The person or people, who get this information can use it to their benefit by using your credit card. The crime would not be detected till you receive the statement from the bank and often the theft can be beyond a payable limit. Any crime can also be committed using your identity, which would also make you the prime suspect in a robbery or a scam.

Hence it is always advisable to dispose all documents through shredding in Houston. These shredding machines are easily available and they don’t occupy too much space in the house. They are different from the shredding machines at office and are much lighter in weight. Also the process of shredding your documents through these shredders would take very little time as compared to doing the same manually. Through this process multiple documents can be disposed at one go instead of tearing or cutting each of the documents separately.

There are various kinds of documents which can be shredded through these machines. These include documents that have your social security number, credit card statements, details of your bank accounts and pass books, any document which is related to property and is confidential. All of these documents can be destroyed through paper shredding machines. The process is safe and ensures that your confidential documents are not passed to wrong hands.

On-Site Shred provides secure document destruction and paper recycling services in Houston Texas and the surrounding areas.  On-Site Shred also offers mobile document destruction for commercial companies and residents.  If researching a paper shredding service in Houston Texas, make sure the company is a member of NAID.

Why you should shred your documents

Earlier,  shredding of documents or papers was not common, in fact a number of people were not even aware of what shredding was. The easiest way of disposing of them was dumping the documents into the garbage bag. But the increase in crime rates, as well as a couple of amendments to certain laws in the U.S, has seen a change in scenario.

Paper is always shredded before disposal, in most offices around the country. Even homes are adapting to the new methods of paper disposal. One of the major reasons for this, is to reduce the risk of crimes which are growing, due to misuse of documents which should be disposed. If you do shred your documents, chances are that you could be setting yourself up for some ugly situations.

Any paper or document which has not been shred before disposal, can turn out to be a serious problem for the company or an individual. These papers can easily be passed on to wrong hands. There are often certain details and documents about an organization which are private and should not be spilled outside the organization. But if any such document is disposed without shredding, then there are many who can access these documents and also misuse the same. There have been instances in the past where such crucial documents have been found by journalists and media and have led to the defamation of an establishment, as well as individuals. In many cases the general public has benefited from these crimes, but there are instances where private matters have come out in public view.

Another problem which occurs if the documents are not shred is the increasing thefts and crimes. The use of details on these documents can also lead to misuse of the same, for committing crimes. This is also known as identity theft, where individuals have to suffer due to the thefts that are committed on their names, even though they haven’t done it. This is because culprits get hold of people’s information through the documents disposed off in the garbage, and then use this information and cause frauds, mislead people and often purchase things on credit cards. The result being that the innocent victim is in big trouble, only because he did not shred his important documents.

Hence it is vital that all confidential documents should be shredded before disposal. This helps to reduce the chances of crimes, through the misuse of these documents. The process does not need much time as a lot of documents can be disposed at one go and also because the process of tearing these papers via hand, does not do as good a job that a shredder does.

If you need a shredding company in Houston TX, make sure they are a member company of NAID.

Identity thefts can be avoided through shredding in Houston

The amount of identity thefts has been on the rise over the past few years. Identity thefts refer to the thefts where the private documents of an individual, such as credit card numbers, social security number or any other personal documents, are used by thieves for committing crimes. Identity thefts are committed for various purposes. The main purposes of these thefts are financial. By using the credit card details or other similar details or information of someone else, various products can be bought. Since the credit card number of the owner is being used, he or she is liable for paying the same. There is also another kind of identity theft where the crime is committed using the name or confidential documents of an individual. In these cases the person whose identity has been used is blamed for the crime and can be accused for the same.

There are different ways of committing identity thefts. These include stealing of credit cards, hacking Internet accounts or computers and other similar options. But one of the easiest ways of committing these crimes is through picking up the details of the important documents through the garbage. Even though the idea of going through the garbage may seem repulsive to most, this is one of the easiest way of accessing the personal and confidential lives of users. Most of the documents disposed in the garbage are not shredded and hence it is very easy to join the pieces of your torn credit card details and access your account or misuse these numbers.

There are various ways through which disposal of garage can be done through shredding in Houston. There are numerous options through which Houston shredding machines can be availed. Different types of shredding machines are available these days. There are some shredders which are used in homes while others are for official purposes. The shredding of documents has become much easier today. The documents which are shredded are fine and thinly stripped or cross cut. Hence there are no chances of the same being misused even if they are put together. Shredding in Houston can be done by buying one of these paper shredders. They come in various sizes and styles and suit the different requirements of users. The ones for offices are usually bigger in size and shape. Hence no matter where you dispose your documents, they should always be shredded.

Document Shredding and it’s importance

The shredding of documents through the use of paper shredders has become a popular trend these days. There are various reasons for shredding of documents instead of disposing them the regular way.

One of the biggest threats posed by the improper disposal of confidential documents is misuse of the same. There has been a rapid increase in identity thefts. These thefts work on the basis of using the identity of another person, for committing various kinds of crimes. These crimes are mainly done for financial benefits. For example, if the credit card statement has been disposed without shredding or tearing the same, then the number of the credit card can be easily accessible to the thieves. Here, they can use the credit card number for their own benefits and purchase various products and charge it to the credit card owner. Often these crimes are not recognized until it is too late and thus the credit card owners have to pay the price for the same.

Another common identity theft crime is using the identity of another person for committing crimes in their names. These can be the work of serious master minds and the person whose social security number or any other related document has been used, can get into serious trouble. Hence it is always advised that document shredding is the best way of disposing all private and confidential information.

There are various other benefits of the process of document shredding. No traces of previous records are found. Hence the chances of getting into trouble due to any such matters can also be avoided. Document shredding is one of the easiest and the most suggested way of disposing documents. Since multiple documents are being shredded at the same time a lot of time is saved. The process of shredding also ensures that the documents are shredded so finely that no content on them is visible to others. This totally eliminates the risk of misuse of these documents. Also the tearing of documents takes a much longer time and does not give you such fine results. Hence it is always good to use document shredding devices rather than doing it from hand.

The document shredding process should not be restricted to offices but should also be used at home. Both places need the proper methods of document shredding because misuse of the same can happen everywhere. This is the best way to avoid identity thefts.

Paper Shredding for Offices

Paper shredding in offices became a popular trend during the 1980’s. This came after the judgment of the Supreme Court, about the warrant-less seizure and search of garbage left for collection outside homes, was not prohibited. This led to a rapid increase in the sales of these paper shredding machines. Earlier government agencies were the ones who mainly used these paper shredders. But the change in these laws and the risks involved in the disposal of documents without shredding, led to the increased use of these paper shredders.

Paper shredding is vital for all offices. There are thousands of documents which are made and discarded in offices every day. These documents can contain confidential information or sensitive statistics which can be detrimental for the company, if it falls in the wrong hands. These documents could be anything, it could be about the non payments of taxes or some scams that had been done at the office or any other confidential issues such as these. If the government or competition companies come across these documents, then there are risks of closure and misuse of these documents also. Hence it is always recommended that offices should always dispose their vital documents through a paper shredder.

The paper shredders used in offices are very different from the ones which are used at home. The reason being, that the amount of paper shredding done in offices is much larger than that done at  homes. There are thousands of papers which are disposed through paper shredders every day and the machine should be sturdy enough to handle this pressure. Paper shredding machines used in offices are much bigger in size and shapes and they also dispose of much thicker paper, as compared to the regular paper shredders.

It is vital that the paper shredders at office be given maintenance and regular checks. Since these shredders are used more often there should be an instruction document attached near the shredder. This will reduce inappropriate methods of paper shredding that can actually result in shorter life span for the paper shredder. The use of any sharp objects like staples and paper clips in the shredder should be avoided. Regular servicing and oiling are some of the best methods of improving the functions of the paper shredders and also its life span. The blade of the shredder is sharp for both strips and cross cut paper shredders.

An alternative to in-house shredding is to outsource to a mobile paper shredding service.

Shredding is Habit Forming

If identity theft has the ability to radically change your life for the worse, shredding has the ability to preserve your life as you know it. Shredding is important. It’s become like flossing your teeth or exercising every day. We know it’s good for us and it’s the right thing to do, but how many people shred on a regular basis? Some of us do, but not all. The fact remains that we’d all be better off if we flossed and we’d all be better off if we shredded our documents on a regular basis.

The documents we come into contact with on a daily basis contain a great deal of personal information, all of it unique to us. That information needs to be protected. It is our own responsibility to take care of this in a timely and regular way. Document Shredding needs to become a habit. Like anything other habit, we need to build the shredding habit.

First, we have to buy into the idea that shredding is important. Millions of Americans are the victims of identity theft every year. Many of those spend extraordinary amounts of time (and money) unraveling the theft and trying to regain control of their identity. Being careful and cautious about how your personal information is used online is very important in keeping your identity safe. But until we become an absolutely paperless society, document based theft will continue to be a problem. Once a piece of paper with your personal information on it leaves your possession, you have no control over where it goes or what’s done with it. Shredding documents containing personal information is vital to protecting yourself against identity theft. It is very difficult to un-shred a document. Shredding destroys the information contained in the document then and there. You can be assured that the information goes no further.

Once you agree that shredding is very important, decide what sort of shredder you want to be. Are you a daily shredder? Are you a weekly shredder? Are you the sort of procrastinator shredder who makes a pile in the living room of papers to be shredded at a time to be determined later? A good way to remember to shred documents is to set up a shredding time that coincides with paying your bills. If you pay your bills weekly, take a minute or two after each bill paying session and shred the documents you no longer need. File the rest. Do the same if you pay your bills monthly. Make it a habit to shred all receipts at that time as well. Clean out your wallet. Pull the receipts out of your purse. Shred them.

Once you get in the habit of shredding unnecessary documents and filing the rest, you’ll feel less anxious about the whole process.

While you’re at it, make it a habit to check over your credit card statements carefully each month and to run a credit report on yourself at least once a year. And remember to floss.