Paper Shredding & Document Destruction

3 Paper Shredder Purchasing Mistakes

2010-08-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

3 Mistakes Made When Deciding to Purchase a Home/Small Office Paper Shredding Machine.

Time and time again I get customers down at the shredding facility who complain about how they burned out one, two, or even three shredders trying to get all their shredding complete. Even if you could get away with buying a shredder for $40 each, that still potentially comes out to $120 in burned out shredders.

Here’s what I’ve determined are the three common mistakes people make when buying an office shredder.

Mistake #1: Miscalculate the size of their job

Just about every last paper shredder you can buy at the store is not designed to handle more than about 100 or so sheets of paper PER DAY – and that’s only if you get into the $150 to $300 price range.

These Paper Shredders are designed only for extremely low volumes of paper shredding.

Basically, we are talking about shredding the stuff that comes in the daily mail. Anything more than that and you might as well pack a lunch because you’re going to have a pretty long and frustrating time investment ahead of you.

Mistake #2: Assume “Theoretical Throughput” equals to “Working Throughput”

I find it extremely comical when I see a paper shredder that advertises 8 sheets of paper per pass and sells for only $69.95. I’m sure some technician working for the manufacturer was able to get 8 sheets of paper to pass through the shredder and successfully shred in one pass.

However, you must be aware that this shredder was not designed to continually shred 8 sheets at a time at a continuous rate for a very long time. In order to get that kind of throughput, you’re going to have to pay a lot more for a shredder.

I have a “small” industrial shredder at our facility that can take somewhere between 70 to 80 sheets per pass and can keep up that pace for 8 hours a day. But this machine runs upwards of $40,000 new. In theory, I could buy 10 of these 8 sheets at a time shredders and get the same throughput for just about $700.

But, as you can see… there’s a massive disconnect from theory and working throughput when it comes to these store bought machines. Buying 10 of these office shredders just wouldn’t cut it for my business (pardon the pun).

50% Throughput Rule: In my best estimation, your best bet for determining working throughput is about 50% of what is stated by the manufacturer.

Mistake #3: Don’t understand “Duty Cycle”

Every paper shredder you can buy from the store has a “Duty Cycle.” Otherwise known as an On/Off run time. This is the amount of time that that shredder can run continuously before it must be shut off.

From a sample of 12 paper shredders, I found an average on time of 9.34 minutes with a following off time of 60.84 minutes.

That means, on average, you can get about 10 minutes of continuous shredding before you have to stop and let the machine cool down for about an hour.

Remember that shredder for $69.95. You can only continuously run it for 2 minutes before you have to turn it off for 30 minutes.

As you can see, if you have a large amount that needs shredding, you’re going to have to spend most of your time letting the machine cool down as opposed to actual shredding and that will lead to a very long project indeed.

Here’s my research:

I recently pulled the specification on 12 common Home/Small Office Shredders and performed some analysis on what it would take to shred 5000 sheets of paper (1 case of copy paper) when using the correct Duty Cycle, the listed number of sheets per pass, and 10 passes per minute.

These shredders ranged in price from $69.95 to $299.99.

I also ran the same simulation using 50% of the manufacturers listed throughput per pass and 5 passes per minute (I reduced the number of passes per minute in order to take into account staple removal and other prep work) – which is what I think is closer to reality.

Here’s what I found:

VERY BEST: The very best shredding machine would shred 5,000 sheets of paper in 1.38 hours. It would’ve taken the same shredder 5.52 hours to shred those same 5,000 sheets if I applied the 50% Throughput Rule and five passes per minute. The listed price for this shredder was $249.99.

THE WORST: The shredding machine that performed the worst under this simulation shredded 5,000 sheets in 66.17 hours – and that’s before I apply the 50% throughput rule. When I apply the 50% throughput rule and limit the number of passes per minute to only five, it took a staggering 266.17 hours to shred the 5,000 sheets. And this wasn’t the cheapest shredder I looked at! The price for this shredder was $89.99.

Now here’s the real kicker…

If you were to pay someone $8.00 an hour to shred 5,000 sheets of paper, that 266.17 hours translates into $2,135.67 when you include the cost of the shredder along with sales tax.

The “Very Best” shredder would cost you $66.78 if you paid someone $8.00 an hour along with the cost of the shredder.

In the absolute most perfect world, where the shredder performs at the manufacturers listed specifications and you can pull off ten passes per minute, the cost of 5,000 sheets is still $33.69.

All in all, buying a paper shredding machine for your home or office can be a very logical and cost effective choice if you understand some of the very basic constraints involved in using these machines. However, if your requirements exceed simply shredding just a few sheets of paper a day, you may want to consider your options.

Until next time…

Keep Totally Secure,

Mike

Head Shredding Guy

Total Secure Shredding, Inc.

10 Identity Fraud Prevention Tips

2010-08-02T18:01:00.001-07:00

Hey Folks,

Mike Here...

Identity Fraud (also commonly known as Identity Theft), is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States that affected more than 11 million adults in 2009.

We are talking about a crime that totals $54 Billion annually.

That's not "Chump Change" but there are some very simple precautions you can take in order to greatly reduce your chances of becoming a victim of I.D. Theft.

Here are 10 tips I put together to help you protect yourself, your family, and your business from the dangers of I.D. Fraud:

Properly shred or otherwise destroy all old bank statements, cancelled checks, old tax returns and other documents containing sensitive personal information prior to disposing of them. Personal information you should be on the lookout for is an individual’s First Name, or First Initial and Last Name linked with any of the following data elements:
- Social Security Number
- Driver’s License number or State Identification Card Number
- Account Number or Credit or Debit Card Number, in combination with any required security code, access code, or password that would permit access to an individual’s financial account.
Be extremely cautions of anyone calling and asking to verify your information. Even if the person says they are from your bank, utility company, or other service provider. The safest bet is to not provide any information (especially social security and credit card or bank account numbers) and tell the person you’ll call them back using the phone number that is listed on a previous statement, invoice, or other correspondence. If the person on the phone gets upset and tries to push the issue, hang up immediately.
When recycling electronics, make sure they have been properly sanitized before disposal. This includes computer hard drives and other memory capable devices such as smart phones.
Do not email sensitive personal information (including credit card information). Most email is not encrypted and can be accessed if the sending or receiving computer has been breached by “Malware” (Trojans or Key Logging Software).
Do not keep sensitive passwords and account information on your computer, laptop, or phone unless they have been properly secured. One free program you can use to securely store this type of information is “Keypass” http://keepass.info/
Never give out your ATM PIN to anyone… Not even to close friends or relatives. Once you give your PIN away you are basically authorizing that person to have free access to your account. At that point, there’s not much that can be done if that person decides to take more than originally planned.
Be cautious about online shopping. Only shop with recognized vendors that have good on-line reputations with proven secure websites. One thing to look for is that the webpage you’re putting your credit card information on has been encrypted. Once you get as far as putting in your credit card information, take a look in the website address window and make sure the website is prefaced by https. The “S” in “HTTPS” stands for secure and ensures a SSL/TLS protocol is in place to provide encryption so that no “eavesdropper” or “man-in-the-middle” can intercept your credit card information.
Install an antivirus and malware software on each of your computers. A good antivirus program is called “Avast.” You can download a free version of at http://www.avast.com/lp-upgrade-4-5-free#. If you’re looking for a Malware program, checkout a program called “MalwareBytes”. Learn more about MalwareBytes and download a free version at http://www.malwarebytes.org/. And Finally, one of the best methods for preventing unauthorized access to your computer is to Update, Update, Update. It’s critical that you make sure all your software has been updated. Many times, these updates patch potential vulnerabilities hackers are using to access your computer.
Review monthly checking, savings, and credit cards statements for unauthorized transactions. Even a relatively small monthly transaction can add up over many months or years.
Perform an annual review your credit reports from the three credit reporting agencies so see if any unauthorized lines of credit have been opened. The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you can access your credit report free of charge every 12 months from each of the three credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion (read more at http://www.ftc.gov/freereports). The ONLY authorized site to get your free credit reports is www.annualcreditreport.com.

Feel free to comment below about any tips you may have that can help prevent I.D. Fraud.

Until Next Time...

Keep Totally Secure,

Mike Krauss
Head Shredding Guy

Total Secure Shredding, Inc.

Neighborhood Watch - ID Theft

2010-07-28T21:33:00.001-07:00

“Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?

In your neighborhood?

In your neighborhood?”

- Sesame Street

Hey Folks,

Unless you have young kids, it’s probably been a while since you’ve watched Sesame Street.

But, as Grouchy as Oscar is, there’s a good chance the individuals that are going through your trash are not nearly as harmless as good old Oscar the Grouch.

Even more important, the nicer the neighborhood you live in, the more valuable your trash is to those folks who like going through it.

Time and time again, I hear stories of neighborhood watches being on the lookout for individuals going through the trash bins. And let’s face facts: We’re talking about higher priced neighborhoods… and you know who you are.

It comes down to the potential value of the items you’re throwing away.

You remember the old saying: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Well there’s an extremely good chance that a million dollar home is throwing away something that has a much higher “Treasure” value than lower priced neighborhoods.

And although it’s not a big deal for someone to take away that old lampshade you tossed out…

It is a big deal when you see that same individual pulling single sheets of paper out of your trash!

When that person is pulling out sheets of paper, smoothing them out, folding them up, and sticking them in their pocket, you can be certain that those papers are not being collected for their recycling value.

I think the inclination is to underestimate the ability of a garbage picker to use your personal data for their personal financial gain.

The thing is… Most identity fraud is still accomplished by accessing personal information through low tech methods such as someone going through your trash, giving your ATM PIN to a close friend or family member, or just leaving sensitive information lying around your home or office where someone can easily access it.

ID Fraud is often a crime of open opportunity and not necessarily that of hardened criminals. Don’t get me wrong… there are professional, high tech, I.D. Theft Criminals who are out to separate you from your money.

But for folks going through tough times, an old canceled check is an opportunity just waiting to be taken advantage of.

Your best option is to reduce and eliminate these opportunities for those who may want to take advantage of them.

Make sure to properly destroy sensitive personal information, either on paper or electronic, before disposal. And when in doubt, your best bet is to ensure proper destruction instead of taking the risk.

This is truly a time when an “Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure.”

Keep an eye on my blog in the next few days as I’ll be putting out a list of 10 items you can do to protect your identity.

Until then…

Keep Totally Secure,

Mike Krauss

CEO & President
Total Secure Shredding, Inc.

Office: (619) 295-5474

www.TotalSecureShredding.com

Hire a Paper Shredding Company

2010-07-23T20:37:00.001-07:00

If There’s no PAIN…

There’s no GAIN.

What’s Your P.I.T.A. Factor?

Hey Folks…

Mike here.

I often run into people who ask the following…

“I didn’t even know there were such things as shredding companies… Do you have a lot of competition?”

The direct answer is YES… There are quite a few paper shredding companies you can choose from. (Anyone that does a Google search for paper shredding can easily witness this fact!)

However, what’s even more important (at least to me), is the first part of that question: “I didn’t even know that there were such things as shredding companies…”

For the most part, the reason someone would say this, is that they’ve never had any reason to consider the need for a professional paper shredding company.

They don’t realize that I.D. Fraud can happen to them and consequently they don’t shred anything;
Or, they don’t have that much to shred and their $50.00 home paper shredder works perfectly for the couple of sheets they do have to shred every week.

I won’t go into group 1. (If they’re not worried about I.D. Fraud and are not shredding… There’s a good chance they won’t be on this website anyway!)

So if you’re in the second group, the question is: When should you consider a professional shredding company?

This differs from person to person, but basically, but it comes down to your individual P.I.T.A. Factor (Pain In The Ass Factor).

If you’re like me, I don’t sort out my mail every day and let it stack up. After a few months, I usually have a pretty good pile sitting on the kitchen counter and the subsequent shredding job exceeds my own personal P.I.T.A. Factor. Fortunately for me, I get to bring the pile to work.

My Dad on the other hand, doesn’t understand why anyone would need to bring their things to a paper shredding company. (Thanks Dad!) He carefully goes through his mail every day; sorts out the stuff that can just be thrown away, and then proceeds to shred the important stuff. This process nowhere touches his P.I.T.A. Factor… actually… he kind of seems to like doing it!

So in the end, when you’re looking at your stack of stuff that needs to be shredded, and you say to yourself, “This is going to be a real PAIN!”, then at that point you know you’ve hit your P.I.T.A. Factor.

It might be just a handful of paper or it could be a mountain of boxes that have been sitting around in storage since the 20th Century!

Only you can decide whether the PAIN of your individual shredding project exceeds the cost of having someone else do it.

If you’re starting to hit your Paper Shredding P.I.T.A Factor, set your mind at ease, there’s a quick, convenient, easy, and affordable option available to you.

Until next time…

Keep Totally Secure,

Mike Krauss

CEO & President

Total Secure Shredding, Inc.

mkrauss@TotalSecureShredding.com

(619) 295-5474

www.TotalSecureShredding.com

Paper Shredding Service San Diego

2010-06-20T05:56:00.001-07:00

This closely guarded Industry Secret could leave you wide open to Identity Theft.

Discover what the competition won’t tell you...

Hey Folks,

Mike here…

I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks now…

It’s something that came up over lunch with a person in my mastermind group.

She was getting to know more about my business and asked me what certifications and licenses I needed in order to get started in the Shredding Industry.

I paused for a moment and responded, “Well… Actually… There’s no certificate or government license that’s required to start a shredding company… Outside of a regular business that is.”

My friend looked at me confused for a second and then replied, “So someone could be handling all these sensitive documents and there’s absolutely no guarantee that they are making sure everything is getting shredded properly?”

I responded, “Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the case.”

And that's why it’s critical that consumers perform their due diligence when selecting a shredding company.

However, one of the biggest problems is that many customers ignore whether or not a paper shredding service is qualified to securely destroy their documents but rather choose a paper shredding service only on the basis of price.

This has resulted in a multitude of new shredding companies that have popped up to undercut the competition only to make a quick buck. The reason they can undercut many of their competitors is that they are often times taking shortcuts on insurance, employee background checks, uniforms, or some other industry specific requirement.

Some of these shortcuts may seem superficial, but from my standpoint, if an organization, built around securing your documents, doesn’t look professional, how can you, I, or anyone else be sure sufficient security precautions are being taken when it comes to handling your documents.

The Bottom Line Is:

There is absolutely no governmental oversight of the document destruction industry.

And when it comes to the old saying, “Buyer Beware”, be especially aware when it comes to choosing a document destruction vendor.

So what is the average consumer to do?

That’s why I put together a “Paper Shredding Buyers Guide” that anyone can freely download

In this guide I open the door a little bit further into what the paper shredding industry is all about and to clear away some of the mystery that is hanging around out there. I even go as far as putting in some real money saving insider tips that only those deep inside the industry even know about. It walks you through exactly what to be looking for and what exactly to ask when you’re out there evaluating a potential shredding vendor.

As far as I can tell, this is a first of its kind.

Once you read through this guide, my hope is that you’ll be able to make a quality decision about choosing a paper shredding service.

So please, I posted the link below. Take a look into what this shredding thing is all about (I even put in two work sheets that you can fill out to help you with the decision process).

Click this link to check out the FREE guide: Paper Shredding Buyers Guide

Once you’ve taken a look and if you still have a few questions, you can always give us a call so we can get any other little items you have answered as well.

After all, that’s what we’re about, helping you with your information destruction needs… We are a service company.

So until next time.

Keep totally secure,

Mike Krauss

CEO & President

Total Secure Shredding, Inc.

mkrauss@TotalSecureShredding.com

(619) 295-5474

www.TotalSecureShredding.com

P.S. Once you've taken a look at the "Paper Shredding Buyers' Guide" I put together, feel free to leave me a note in the comments section of this blog entry... I sure would like to hear what you think.

Hard Drive Shredding San Diego - digital copiers

2010-05-13T13:42:00.001-07:00

It’s amazing how much information that is held on old hard drives… Information you’ve long forgotten the existence and importance of.

Just a few weeks ago I resurrected an old PC that first was used in my home and then somewhere along the line migrated itself to the office.

During the time at the office, it had been kicked, shuffled, tipped over, and generally neglected.

But I had a need for another computer around the shop, and when faced with the cost of a new computer in relation for the need I had, I thought I might give the old computer a try.

So I hooked up a monitor, keyboard and mouse and fired it up.

To my surprise it started up perfectly fine and loaded up windows without a single problem.

But besides my amazement that the computer loaded up, I was even more surprised at all the old information that was still on the hard drive.

I completely forgot that this was the computer that I was using when I started Total Secure Shredding.

It had QuickBooks Files, old Quicken files (personal financial information), plenty of Word and Excel files, plus multiple email programs that were not password protected and which had a ton of old emails on them.

The moral is that these “Old” computers do have some very substantial information on them than may be putting your business or family at risk of Identity Theft.

And, as you may have seen in recent days, this also goes for just about every copier that has been built since 2002.

In April, CBS News broke the story that many copiers sent out for resale have not had their hard drives sanitized or replaced.

Of the four copiers that were picked at random to meet certain price and volume specifications, every last one of them had hard drives jammed full of confidential information. Adding insult to injury, two of them came from two different Buffalo NY police departments with one still having documents on the glass. One of the other was from a New York Construction company and contained design plans while the other was from a New York insurance company.

All that was needed to get documents of the copier from the insurance company was to hit “PRINT”. The result was “300 pages of individual medical records.” Current HIPAA regulations mandate that the information that was found (Drug Prescriptions, Blood Test Results, & Cancer Diagnosis) must be properly destroyed prior to disposal.

This dilemma can even be extended to some printers.

There are many “Enterprise” level printers that also contain hard drives that must be sanitized or destroyed before they leave your premises.

I personally research and tracked down at least 50 printer models that could contain hard drives. Not all of these appear to come standard with a hard drive but are optional. All that means is that you need to physically verify whether or not your printer has a hard drive.

So whether it’s your PC, your Laptop, your Printer, or your Copier, digital information is all around us and a permanent part of our society…

And precautions have to be make to ensure all that digital information is properly handled upon disposal – just as important as getting all your sensitive paper documents shredded.

As far as my old computer goes…

It turns out that some of the information on the hard drive got corrupted somehow and now the thing will no longer boot up. Whether or not I ever get the thing working again, one thing you can be sure on, I’ll make sure that hard drive is properly destroyed before it gets thrown out.

Until next time.

Keep Total Secure,

Mike

P.S. The reason the data on my old hard drive was corrupted was because of a USB Wireless Network “Thumb Drive” Device. During the troubleshooting process to figure out what went wrong, I found out that the wireless device’s memory was able to hold the pass code to my networks wireless router.

When I plugged it into the replacement computer, it automatically accessed my network – not good.

So please, take a second look at anything electronic. Who knows what information it might contain?

Beware of Hackers!

2010-04-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,

Mike here...

Let's face it... when it comes to surfing the Internet it can very much seem like the "Wild Wild West" even to those of use who consider themselves "Computer Savvy."

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking part in an extremely enlightening interview with Dan Libby of Digital Forensics, Inc. - a local San Diego Expert in Computer Forensics and Information Systems Security.

Dan spent 25 years in government service with a Major Intelligence Agency (If I told ya I'd have to kill ya!) and is a wealth of information when it comes to the various security risks that are lurking out there on the Internet.

I know this interview definitely opened my eyes to a few items with regard to securing your computer.

I was under the impression that Adobe PDF's were extremely secure and I made sure to attach PDF's to emails I send out whenever possible.

But Dan noted that Adobe PDF's have been ranked as the #1 Vulnerability by the US Government when it comes hackers being able to access high profile networks... including those of the government!

Once a hacker injects a code into a PDF and you consequently open that PDF (or any document), the hacker has the opportunity to take control of your computer and add it to the hacker's "Zombie Network."

Your IP Address can then be sold on the Black Market to "Spammers" who can then Send Spam Emails All Night Long... Using Your Computer!

Did you know that over 90% of all spam sent in the world is sent from people who don't know they are sending it?

Dan says that most important thing you can do to prevent the hacking of your computer is to "Update, Update, Update!"

Once a threat has been identified, software companies will take measures to mitigate that threat by providing updates to their software.

"If you don't update update, you're running software with known security vulnerabilities."

Here's a few things you can do right now to help eliminate computer hacking threats:

Update all your programs. When a programs notifies you that there is an update available, take the time to download and install the update. It's typically a very simple process with the software walking you through.
Turn off your computer at night. Dan says, "They can't get to you if your not on the network."
Install a firewall on your computer either hardware or software based.
Install anti-Virus and anti-Trojan software and make sure it's updated.
Keep a look out for suspicious email and it's definitely a good idea to not open any email attachments that you're not expecting.

To listen to the entire interview, click the link below:

Click Here To Listen

Until next time.

Keep Totally Secure,

Mike Krauss
Total Secure Shredding, Inc.
(619) 295-5474

P.S. I'm Co-Hosting a Radio Show so keep tuned every Saturday morning from 9am to 10am. To listen live Click Here and then click on "Studio A".

Standard Size File Boxes - What The Hell Does That Mean?

2009-12-02T19:19:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody,

Before you call a single Paper Shredding Company to ask about prices, you need to know one Very Important thing:

How many Standard Size File Boxes do you have?

Every document destruction company on the planet needs to know how much paper you have in order to provide to you a quote.

In order to answer that question, you need to know: What is a Standard Size File Box?

Click on the Link Below to check out my newest VIDEO answering that very question.

Standard Size File Boxes - What The Hell Does That Mean?

Keep Total Secure,

Mike

Retired Business Man Gets $7,200 Lesson

2009-10-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

If you're not 100% convinced there are people looking through your trash... you NEED to read this...

Allen, a successful but now retired businessman came down to our facility just this morning to get four boxes of documents shredded. Allen shreds everything now, but that was not always the case…

When Allen sold his house a few years ago he had a few items to get shredded… and because we all know what a royal "pain-in-the-ass" those little shredders are… he decided to just throw his papers (including old canceled checks) right into the trash.

… within two and a half months, Allen was contacted by his CPA notifying him that the business checking account was hit for $42,000 and he was in danger of bouncing checks!

Not only was money missing, but having to explain everything to his kids who now run the business is the last thing someone who’s worked for so hard for 50 years wants to do. Especially when all he really wants to do is hit the golf course.

It took a year and a half and Allen was able to get everything back but $7,200. Only the threat of jail time was needed to force the thieves to return the money. Even then, over $7K is a real expensive lesson to learn.

Now back to this morning…

Allen was able to walk out of our facility after witnessing, live and in person, his four boxes of papers get shredded. The whole ordeal took about 20 minutes with less than 10 minutes of actual shredding time (Remember, it took a little longer since we were having this conversation).

On top of that, he had a receipt and signed Certificate of Destruction that he could show to his kids (the ones now actually running the business).…

And the final price tag - $23.80.

The moral of this story is that personal office shredders, even the ones you pay a couple hundred bucks for, really suck.

They force you to take shortcuts… Potentially so much so that you willing to take the chance of throwing sensitive papers in the trash...

...After all, nobody would take the time to look through your trash… and even if they did… they’re not smart enough to know what to do with anything they find – right?

If you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call – (619) 295-5474.

Until next time, keep Totally Secure,

Mike

Ralph's Employee Spearheads ID Theft Bust

2009-06-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of Sundays ago (June 17, 2009), after an individual tried to pass a fake credit card, a Ralph's grocery store employee alerted the Oceanside Police Department and provided a description of the vehicle. The vehicle was consequently pulled over with the suspects placed "behind bars" by the following Wednesday. See the full story here: http://www.10news.com/news/19779383/detail.html

Businesses and employees must remain alert and be trained to detect potential perpetrators of ID Theft. As part of the Federal Trade Commission’s Red Flag Rules that are slated to come into effect August 1, 2009, many businesses are going to be required to implement programs "designed to detect the warning signs - or 'red flags' - of identity theft in their day-to-day operations, take steps to prevent crime, and mitigate the damage it inflicts."

In the following weeks, I will be posting a series of blogs outlining some procedures businesses can include in their Red Flag Program to prevent ID Theft at the point-of-sale when accepting credit cards.

Everyone must do their part to prevent ID Theft and the Ralph's Grocery store in Oceanside and their on-the-ball employee deserve much credit for preventing ID Theft and ultimately helping to catch the criminals.

Trash Voyeurism

2009-06-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

If you ever had any doubts about whether you should shred everything, then I have something to show you.

I found it absolutely astonishing that something like this even exists for public consumption. And even if you find it interesting to read through other people's stuff, even if it seems innocent or cute, you should have the right to decide whether you want to make your papers public.

With ID Theft running rampant, you can find at least a couple of news stories every day covering ID Theft, you must take proactive steps to destroy any and all documents you receive and produce. Whether you shred, burn, pulverize, or chew them up and swallow them, they must not leave your possession in readable form.

Without further ado, here's what all this about. This story ran on 20/20 last Friday night and it is must viewing for anyone even a little concerned about ID Theft: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7830369

Glossary of Terms

2009-04-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've finally been able to get down on paper a glossary of terms related to identity theft, privacy, and document destruction. For the most part, the terms below relate to various federal laws passed within the last 20 years.

It's kind of long and not extremely interesting unless you're looking for exactly this sort of thing. I tried to include links to the various government websites relating to the laws. With that said, it could be useful as a good starting point for more research into the subject.

This is also posted on the Total Secure Shredding website.

California vs. Greenwood

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "expectation of privacy in trash left for collection in an area accessible to the public... is unreasonable." Consequently, when you throw something in the trash, anyone that happens to come across your documents is able to take whatever they like.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

Privacy Rule: Entities covered by HIPAA much have policies and procedures in place to safeguard patient medical information and to minimize its disclosure.

Who this Covers:

Health Plans: This includes such entities as Insurance companies, HMO’s, and Corporate Health Plans.
Most Health Care Providers: Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors, Nursing Homes and the like.
Health Care Clearinghouses: Entities that transcribe patient medical data.

What is protected:

Information that is put into your medical records.
Conversations your doctor has regarding your medical care and treatment.
Electronic medical records.
Billing information.

For more information see the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website: www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/index

Economic Espionage Act of 1996

This act makes commercial trade secret theft a federal crime. One aspect defining a trade secret is that there must be reasonable measures in place to preserve its secrecy. Consequently, items found in the trash or recycling bin may not be considered secret and may hinder effective prosecution.

Graham-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999

Also know as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, this act acts "to protect consumers' personal financial information held by financial institutions."

Financial Privacy Rule: This rule requires financial institutions to provide their customers "privacy notices" on how thier personal financial information will be collected and shared. Also, customers are provided the opportunity to limit how some of their information will be shared.
Safeguards Rule: Financial Institutions are required "have a security plan to protect the confidentiality and integrity of personal consumer information."
Pretexting: Prohibits using "false pretenses" to acquire personal consumer information.

Some examples of financial institutions that are covered includes tax preparers, lenders, mortgage brokers, credit counselors, and those institutions that transfer or safeguard money.

For more information see the FTC website

Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act or FACTA) of 2003

This act amends Fair Credit Reporting Act that was passed in 1970. This amendment promotes accuracy in consumer reports and is meant to ensure the privacy of the information in them.

FACTA Disposal Rule

"The FACTA Disposal Rule requires disposal practices that are reasonable and appropriate to prevent the unauthorized access to, or use of, information in a consumer report." (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/06/disposal.shtm)

Reasonable measures for disposing of consumer report information could include the use of a third party shredding company to destroy any consumer report information.

FACTA Red Flag Rules

These regulations require development and implementation of written identity theft programs. These new rules apply to financial institutions and creditors with covered accounts.

Financial Institutions: "Defined as a state or national bank, a state or federal savings and loan association, a mutual savings bank, a state or federal credit union, or any other entity that holds a 'transaction account' belonging to a consumer."
Transaction Account: "A deposit or other account from which the owner makes payments or transfers. Transaction accounts include checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings deposits subject to automatic transfers, and share draft accounts."
Creditor: "Any entity that regularly extends, renews, or continues credit; any entity that regularly arranges for the extension, renewal, or continuation of credit, or any assignee of an original creditor who is involved in the decision to extend, renew, or continue credit. Accepting credit cards as a form of payment does not in and of itself make an entity a creditor. Creditors include finance companies, automobile dealers, mortgage brokers, utility companies, and telecommunications companies. Where non-profit and government entities defer payment for goods or services, they, too, are to be considered creditors."
Covered Account: "An account used mostly for personal, family, or household purposes, and that involves multiple payments or transactions. Covered accounts include credit card accounts, mortgage loans, automobile loans, margin accounts, cell phone accounts, utility accounts, checking accounts, and savings accounts. A covered account is also an account for which there is a foreseeable risk of identity theft – for example, small business or sole proprietorship accounts.”

Originally, these rules were intended to be put into enforcement on November 1, 2008. Consequently, the FTC has postponed mandatory compliance to May 1, 2009. (http://www.ftc.qov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt050.shtm)

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

This act was initiated in response to a number of corporate accounting scandals which included such companies as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco International. It established new standards for internal financial controls to eliminate accounting fraud. These internal controls could be construed to include standardized and routine document disposal so as to avoid the appearance of impropriety of non-routine document destruction.

Prudent-Man Rule: Finance Definition

A legal securities standard that asks the question, "What would a prudent man do" in order to determine whether an action was reasonable or whether it violated fiduciary duties. The legal standard originated in 1830 when Judge Samuel Putnum wrote, "Those with responsibility to invest money for others should act with prudence, discretion, intelligence and regard for the safety of capital as well as income." (http://www.yourdictionary.com/finance/prudent-man-rule)

California Civil Code Section 1798.80-1798.84

"A business shall take all reasonable steps to destroy, or arrange for the destruction of a customer's records within is custody containing personal information which is no longer to be retained by the business by (1) shredding, (2) erasing, or (3) otherwise modifying the personal information in those records to make it unreadable or undecipherable through any measure." Injured customers may file "a civil action to recover damages." "In addition... a customer may recover a civil penalty not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) per violation."

My Take on Personal (Small Office) Paper Shredders

2009-02-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

I received a call the other day from an individual who was looking for a replacement motor for his personal home shredder. (I won’t mention the brand but they are a biggie when it comes the producing these sorts of shredders.) At Total Secure Shredding, we don’t perform this sort of service. We provide shredding services using mobile shredding trucks or using our in-house shredder. However, it did get me thinking that there could be a lot of money in repairing these little shredders. After all, they tend to cost a lot and don’t last too long!

But I digress. For the gentleman who called, I looked up the manufacturer’s website and passed along the local INDIANA phone number that was provided. I mentioned to the caller that I wouldn’t expect too much since it looked like corporate headquarters. I have yet to hear back from this person so I guess he found what he was looking for.

But this gentleman’s call really got me to thinking about what a pain it is to shred your own documents in your home or office with one of these little personal shredders.

Before I got into the shredding business, I, like everyone else, had a little personal shredder sitting right next to my computer desk. And for the most part, it only was used every other month or so. Between uses, I would just stack all my “For Shredding” documents right on top of the shredder. In about two month’s time, I would collect a fairly substantial stack of paper. Then on one Saturday morning, I would pull off the stack of papers and spend two to three hours shredding. This included pulling out staples, shredding two pages at a time (if I was lucky), emptying the shredded paper three or four times, and then vacuuming up all the paper pieces that ended up on the carpet.

But that was before. Today I bring in all my junk mail and credit card offers to our office to shred in our industrial paper shredder – it only takes a minute. And although my intent for this blog was to be more informational then to advertise my service, the fact is, we provide the same convenience for the general public.

When you compare the price of a personal shredder to the service we provide, there is really no comparison. I performed a quick internet search looking for a consumer review of these personal shredders. The top 4 listed ranged in price from $60 to $180. And although these shredders are rated from 8 to 17 sheets per pass, the reviews said the best you could hope for is about half that. They go on to say that that translates into 220 to 1,700 sheets per day depending on the type of shredder you purchase. Of course, the more expensive you go, the more throughput the shredder is rated. I would guess the daily throughput is much less. But let’s stick with 1,700 sheets a day for argument’s sake. And let’s assume one day is referring to the amount of paper you could shred in 8 hours of work as opposed to 24 hours. 1,700 sheets is just under 4 reams of paper (there are about 500 sheets of paper in a standard ream). So if a standard case of paper holds 10 reams, it would take over 2 ½ days to shred just one case of paper. So you’re looking at over 20 hours to shred one case of paper.

How much is your time worth?

Please forgive me but here’s where I pitch our service. If you are located in San Diego, especially somewhere in the greater metro area, do yourself a favor and bring your documents down to our facility for shredding. We are located behind the San Diego Sports Arena where Interstate 5 and 8 intersect. No appointments are necessary and walk-ins are always welcome. We shred your documents while you wait and you can actually watch your documents get shredded through our viewing window. You’re actually no more than a few feet from the shredder. All the shredded paper is then loaded into one of our mobile shredding trucks, where it actually gets shredded again, and then is taken to a recycling center. There is no catch! That’s how simple it is!

But this must cost a fortune – Right? Actually, the price is only $5.95 per standard size file box.

What’s a standard size file box? Well it’s about the size of a case of copy paper. That’s right, 10 reams of paper. Remember, we were talking that it would take over 20 hours to shred this on the best rated personal shredder!

So for the $180 it would cost you to purchase the top rated personal shredder we could shred 30 standard file boxes.

It gets better. If by chance you have 30 boxes, we will actually bring our high speed shredding trucks out to you for the same low price of $5.95 per box. That’s right, don’t bring it to us – we come out to you. Of course we can’t service the whole world for this price. For mobile shredding, this price is only good for the greater San Diego Metro Area.

If you would like more information on the services we provide please check out our website at www.TotalSecureShredding.com/services.

Or please give us a call:

Locally: (619) 295-5474
Toll Free: (800) 536-4832

The point of all this is to say that there is a much easier, faster, cheaper, and environmentally friendlier way to destroy your documents.

Hopefully this helps and again I apologize for the shameless plug of our services.

Regards,

Mike

New San Diego Recycling Ordinance & Dumpter Diving

2008-12-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

Just like me, you probably just received or will receive your winter issue of the "Curbsider" from the City of San Diego. And, most likely, even if you opened it up, it quickly went in the trash after a just as quick glance. However, since such a large part of my business deals with recycling, I tend to read these little brochures cover to cover whenever it comes out and now here it sits on my office desk.

For the most part, this brochure is fairly uneventful and you didn't miss much if in fact you did just toss it in the trash - or in your blue recycling bin. But one item I did find interesting is that:

Beginning January 1, 2009, multifamily homes with 50 units or more and commercial properties of 10,000 square feet or more are required to recycle. Then on January 1, 2010, all residents and businesses are required to recycle. Some exemptions will be granted.

I thought that this would be a great opportunity to talk about how just simply recycling is not the same as securely shredding documents. Throwing sensitive documents in the recycling bin or even in the trash does not protect you from dumpster divers. There is big business for dumpster divers who are just conniving and devious enough to want to search through your trash.

Just about anything can be of value to these lowlifes. From items that seem pretty innocent: grocery lists, birthdays cards, and sticky notes. To other items of higher value: phone bills, cable bills, gas & electricity bills, and bank statements.

These identity thieves will use the information on the innocent items noted above to provide a level of familiarity with potential identity theft victim. For example: A thief may ascertain your child's name and birthday from a discarded birthday card along with the name and address of whoever sent it - perhaps grandma and grandpa. This familiarity often lowers the guard of the victim and loosens them up to readily providing needed information to an identity thief via a phone call. If the identity thief also has possession of an old phone bill, there is greater opportunity to pry from an unsuspecting victim more valuable information such as passwords, account numbers, and social security numbers.

If you leave the door open just a crack, leave it to the criminal mind to put two and two together in an attempt to steal your identity.

This is not only important to individuals, but it is also extremely important that business protect their employees, their customers, and themselves.

Remember, your trash, including your recycling bin, when left on the curb is open to public viewing.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the decision California vs. Greenwood that the "expectation of privacy in trash left for collection in an area accessible to the public... is unreasonable."

Consequently, when you throw something in the trash, anyone that happens to come across your documents is able to take whatever they like. It's great to recycle. But be sure to protect yourself against identity theft by properly destroying your documents before you send them to the recycling bin.

Regards,

Mike

My First Blog

2008-12-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

I've finally gotten around to setting up my first blog and actually posting to it. Actually, I initially set up this blog over a couple of years ago but never had the chance to get things going. Two years ago I was just starting Total Secure Shredding, Inc. and to say the least, I've been extremely busy. Since that time, we have expanded from a home based business to leasing a location in Point Loma right behind the San Diego Sports Arena. We've also grown from one mobile shredding truck to three plus a cargo van.

I hope to use this blog as a companion to the business website where I can comment and discuss various items pertaining to the document shredding industry, the recycling industry, miscellaneous items relating to Total Secure Shredding, and anything else that may have my interest - after all it's my blog and I can do whatever I'd like!

For the most part, I'd like to be able to provide in-depth answers to the various questions we receive with regard to paper shredding. It may seem like a fairly dull subject, but with Identity Theft such a big concern these days, secure paper shredding is becoming a more and more important subject. And as much as we would like to make this a paperless society, the more we try it seems the more paper we have that needs shredding - no thanks to the United States Post Office which continually is delivering sensitive documents (endless amounts of credit card offers just for starters) to your front door.

So if anyone has any questions with regard to secure paper shredding, please feel free to comment to any of my posts or send me an email. All emails go directly to my inbox - I'm not sure how wise a decision this might be, but I'll try it for now.

Regards,

Mike