Identity theft, and encouraging people to protect themselves from it, is a particular passion of ours at iShred. As technology grows, our world shrinks. And with the increased connection between individuals and organisations all across the globe, people’s perception of where their personal information resides and how safe it is can become hazy. Identity theft protection techniques are more important than ever before.
In previous articles, we’ve covered what identity theft is and some tips to ensuring your identity stays safe. See What Is Identity Crime? for more info.
If you’ve just decluttered your office or the old archive boxes in the garage you might be tempted to recycle it.
Or perhaps you just opened a letter and threw it out – did you take the time to consider what sensitive data it might contain first?
In order to protect yourself from identity theft, you need to consider any paperwork that contains personal information as sensitive. This doesn’t just mean bank statements and copies of tax documents.
This can include data that creates a picture of your life. Some examples of this are:
- school papers with information about your children
- a letter about your last pay rise or performance review with your employee number printed in the top corner
- anything that that includes your signature
- medical records
- house maintenance service reports
- vet receipts (remember that people often include their pet’s or children’s names in passwords).
When it comes to paperwork, it is always best to err on the side of caution. Anything that is personalised in any way can be shredded, which ensures your details are protected.
It’s not just paperwork that can be a risk. Consider old USB sticks, hard drives, video tapes, cd backups, old credit cards and licenses. You can’t have those things floating around to fall into unsafe hands!
iShred can look after all these for you, quickly and securely. And when all your critical information is made safe, all that is left is recycling material that gives life to new packaging products and other items.
If you are looking for a low-stress, cost-effective way to ensure identity theft protection for you, your family or your business, contact iShred today. We’ll make sure all of your sensitive stuff is well-shredded and disposed of safely!
