How Remote Workers Should Get Rid of Company Documents in Tampa

In 2009, Stanford Financial Group owner R. Allen Stanford was charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi Scheme. To cover his tracks, he had shredded all pertinent documents. Luckily for authorities, they could “unshred” the documents by scanning the pieces into a computer. Software matched each piece together again. Unfortunately for you and your company, would-be thieves have access to the same technology.

Anyone with a computer can download “unshredder” software right now and begin reassembling shredded documents! How can you protect yourself and your company?

The Problem of Working Remote

Before COVID-19, only 6% of workers were remote. Once the pandemic hit, over a third of all employees worked from home or out of the office. That means documents spread out now more than ever before, whether digitally or physically. Workers share documents through email, sharing sites, video calls, and even through traditional mail services. The chance that a document could slip through the cracks and end up in the wrong hands has increased. 

Sharing documents in such a way means there are more copies, too. When the need to shred or destroy them arises, how can workers be sure they are getting rid of all of them?

Digital Destruction

Removing sensitive information from online sources is the first step. Ideally, you’d never have such information on shared platforms in the first place, of course! To eliminate any traces of a document, your company first needs to have standards in place for which types of information are allowed on which sites. Some places your information may have ended up include:

Cloud Storage

Sites like Dropbox or OneDrive make storing and sharing information easy. But if employees can access the company’s account, so can hackers or thieves. 

Virtual Meetings

If your company uses services like Skype or Zoom for video calls, they may have been recorded. 

Email 

You shouldn’t share confidential information through email services, but it can and does happen!

Hard Drives

Thieves can retrieve files that have been overwritten dozens of times. The only way to guarantee the data is unrecoverable is to destroy the hard drives.

Paper Shredding

You can take shredded documents from the trash and put them back together with enough tape and patience. But reconstructing shredded paper is time-consuming, so it deters most thieves from trying. Also, with the advent of “unshredder” software, paper shredding has become more sophisticated. The wise thing to do if you’re working from home is to hire a professional shredding company. Many companies like ShredQuick travel to residences (and offices) to shred your documents safely and securely. 

The ShredQuick Way

Instead of dumping the shredded paper in a landfill or other location where the pieces are still retrievable, Shredquick immediately bales all shredded documents and takes them to a paper mill for recycling. And this service isn’t just for large office complexes. ShredQuick will come right to your house! Contact us right away if you’re working remotely and need to eliminate sensitive documents or hard drives. Our truck will pull up, shred everything on-site, and give you a Certificate of Destruction for peace of mind.