When you hire a document destruction company to shred your business’s old paper files or destroy your old hard drives, you are putting a portion of the future of your company into somebody else’s hands. Such is the extreme importance of secure document destruction.
Your company has sensitive information everywhere, from proprietary product information and trade secrets to old job applications and employee forms littered with social security numbers and other identifying details. Your business might even have a log of customer credit cards in paper format or stored on a hard drive.
Any of this information could be destructive to your business if it falls into the wrong hands. A competitor could copy your product design and eat away at your market share. An identity thief, meanwhile, could find social security numbers or credit card numbers and use them to steal from your customers or employees. Since your business is legally obligated to protect the private information of your customers, clients, and past hires, you could face both lawsuits and state or federal fines for your lapse in security. None of these concerns even address the reputational damage that can come from a major data leak.
It is of paramount importance to find a document shredding firm that will destroy paper files, hard drives, and any other media in a thorough and secure fashion. The big question is: how can you tell the difference between the companies you can count on and the ones you cannot count on?
The National Association of Information Destruction has the answer in the form of AAA certification. Document shredding companies with the NAID AAA certification go through regular audits to ensure full regulatory compliance and high-quality security specifications. In short, these companies are familiar with all state and federal guidelines for information destruction and can use that knowledge to help keep your business safe from costly data leaks.
Not all shredding companies are AAA NAID certified. Even some information destruction firms that are members of NAID don’t have AAA certification. At CI Information Management, we are proud to be one of the few AAA NAID certified information destruction firms in Eastern Washington, which means that your data will always be safe with us.
Are you interested in learning more about NAID AAA certification? Click here for additional information.
