You’ve developed a document destruction plan and are perhaps already taking advantage of our mobile shredding services. Maybe you are planning to come to our Shred Day to rid yourself or your business of unneeded documents and files. That’s great, but have you thought about the security of the documents you do need to keep? How are your files stored? Who has access to them? And what about the security of your computers? These are all important questions to consider when you have a business to run.
Document Security: Have a Plan for Protecting Your Documents
There are a few simple steps you can take to make sure your documents, both physical and electronic, are secure.
- Store documents, files and computer disks or flash drives in a locked closet or office. Only employees who need to use the information should be given access to the files.
- Lock laptops to work stations so they cannot be removed from the premises. If they are needed off-site, store them discreetly. Also, be aware of transmitting sensitive data over insecure networks or via cell phone.
- Encrypt sensitive files that you need to send via email and make sure your computers all are password protected. Consider having a policy that includes wiping the data from a smartphone if an incorrect password is entered more than three times in a row.
- If you process credit cards as part of your business, make sure you use a secure connection to prevent theft.
- Consider establishing a policy that tells employees which devices they are allowed to connect to your network – there are many ways an employee could leave the office with sensitive data and you would never know.
- Create individual user accounts for each employee. This way you can control which drives and folders each individual can access. You can also monitor their computer activity. Restrict the ability for individual users to download software.
- Most importantly, keep only what you need. Shred old files, and invest in a program to wipe deleted files from your computer hard drives.
Hold Employees Accountable
Once you have a security plan in place, inform your employees. Make sure you clearly state what will happen if they violate the policy. Ask them to sign a confidentiality agreement. When hiring a new employee, you probably already run a background check. Make sure to be especially careful with those who may be handling confidential information.
What should you do if your documents are compromised in some way? When making your security plan, consider how you will handle a theft. Make sure you know who you need to notify about the incident, including the police.
Shred On Site helps all of our customers develop a compliant document destruction process. Having a document security strategy and document destruction plan in place will give your customers and employees confidence that their private information is safe.
