Why Shred?

 

Sensitive information, in the wrong hands, can become a serious liability. Whether your company is large or small, you have information that must be kept private. Customer lists, drafts of bids and letters, even memos, contain information about your business activity that would interest any competitor. Your business is also entrusted with private information about employees and customers which you are legally required to protect. Under law, all government agencies and private sector companies can be held liable if any personal information is released to unauthorized individuals. In addition, there are growing public concerns about privacy and identity theft. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in North America.

 

If your organization is privy to private information and that information becomes public, it could be argued in a court of law that you had a responsibility to protect it, and are, therefore, liable for any damages. To protect your organization against the risk of liability it is smart business practice to routinely shred stored records as soon as their retention period is up, and to routinely shred daily documents as soon as they have outlived their usefulness.