If You're Not Practicing Privacy, You Could Be Out of Business
When you own and operate a business, you have a lot of things to consider so that the organization runs well and you keep your employees happy. There are so many documents to keep organized, from taxes to invoices, that it can be downright frustrating to try and keep track of them all. And what happens when they get too old to have relevance? Do you really want tax documents from 30 years ago sitting around in a file cabinet waiting to be exploited by a disgruntled employee or white-collar burglar? Then you should think about secure paper shredding and securing your documents any way that you can.
Think shredding isn't important or that it can't happen to you? You might want to dwell on that some more because in 2017 approximately 16.7 million people were victims of identity fraud. Unless you want to have your personal information stolen or uploaded to the internet for all to see, you'd be wise to take a look at shredding your paper documents, specifically with a level 6 shredding device. If you've never been introduced to high-security paper shredders or privacy technology, it's worth educating yourself about.
What Exactly is a "Level 6" Shredder?
You might be asking yourself "what the heck is level 6 shredding anyway? Isn't all shredding the same?" This is a common refrain from people that are only just starting to work on their organization's privacy and aren't in the know. But when it comes to shredders and paper security, there's actually a lot to consider. Multiple factors go into securing documents from prying eyes, and the more you know the better off you are.
Paper shredders are often grouped into "security levels" that rank from one to six. These numbers denote the shred particle size of the end result of the (usually) high-capacity shredder, with level six being the most secure and level one providing the minimum amount of secure shredding. Level 6 shredding usually cuts paper within a 1 x 4-5mm size, which is extremely small and hard to put back together if someone were to try and assemble the pieces. Level 6 shredding is so secure, in fact, that the end result ends up looking more like dust than paper and is almost impossible to reassemble.
Level 6 shredders are most popular with the government and military, who have to shred lots of sensitive documents with high-security concerns. In this regard, they are sometimes referred to as "top-secret shredders" and "confidential shredders." If you want the ultimate security for your business, organization, or person, then level 6 is the way to go. You can always breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there is virtually a zero percent chance that your information will ever be recreated or distributed via paper.
Once It's Shredded, Rest Easy
When you've organized your documents to be shredded and disintegrated, you can rest easy knowing that none of you or your organization's personal information will be accessible to would-be criminals out there. Especially if you've practiced level 6 shredding and added another component (like burning the shredded paper) on top of it. You can never be too cautious when it comes to something you've built or maintain, like your business or personal documents. After all, you've worked hard for the things you've gotten, haven't you? Taking all the steps you can to protect them just makes sense at the end of a long, hard day.
Even if you make a few beginner mistakes here and thereby throwing documents in the trash or leaving them needlessly exposed, you've done the vast majority of the hard work that business owners sometimes don't want to face up to. It can be tough to make the realization that the world is a brutal place where someone would want to harm you or your business by misappropriating sensitive information, but it happens all the time. As referenced before, all you have to look at is the millions of people that are the victim of identity fraud each year to see that the problem is a very real one, albeit specific.