Today’s online databases store vast amounts of personal, often financially related information on publicly accessible computers. The technology has been around for decades, but identity theft has become a serious problem only in recent years. Why?

In years past, bank and credit card computer systems were all connected via private networks. The information was there, but the entry points were fewer and closely guarded. Today, businesses do an excellent job of keeping information secure, given the demands placed on their resources.

But as a result of the growth of the Internet along with the ease of access worldwide by non-experts, the entry points to that data have grown. At the same time, the number of knowledgeable individuals with computer and networking expertise has grown many-fold.

Hacking programs are readily accessible on the Internet with a few simple searches. You no longer have to write your own. That lowers the needed level of expertise and the cost to those inclined to criminal activity.

At the same time, online banking, PayPal, eBay and other systems containing financial information and, in some cases, actual electronic dollars, have become widespread. More people do their basic banking online now rather than visiting an actual branch.

That means many more ways to access your private financial data like bank accounts, credit card accounts, PayPal accounts and many more with the needed skills. Try as they might, security professionals at banks and elsewhere can only secure a system so well. They necessarily have vulnerable points. Most of those soft spots are right on your home or small office computer, where security is the most lax.

Tough to crack passwords, regular password changes, password confidentiality, hardened operating systems and applications and network gear are all within the control of private individuals now. Most are not trained and have relatively little interest in the intricacies of computer security.

Now that wireless Internet connections have become cheaper and easier to install – and therefore more common – the problem has only become worse. A data thief can easily drive by your house or walk by your apartment with a laptop and often access your home or small office computer network.

The result of that lessened security means increased data theft. That data theft often ends up being identity theft – the copying of private information a thief can use to pretend they are you. Once they can successfully masquerade as you online, it’s a simple matter to use that information to take your money.

Banks and others can only react after the fact, in that case. Often, they can’t reimburse you for the loss.

No system is impossible to crack. But a few simple guidelines can help improve your odds. Choose odd passwords with special characters and change them at least every 60 days. Don’t share passwords with anyone but one trusted adult. Keep your computers and network physically secure, just as the professionals do.

Beyond computer and network security, don’t forget to secure your documents. Whether paper or CDs/DVDs, shred anything with your account number, signature or other personal information that can be used to steal your identity and your money.

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There’s always a balancing act to be performed between the time, money and effort spent in securing information versus the sensitivity of the data. And, considering that 70% of identity theft still occurs offline, with 30% online, you’ll need to protect yourself in both arenas.

For data that isn’t particularly sensitive or potentially money-making for criminals, it’s hardly worth much more than tearing and tossing the paper. For credit cards a good pair of scissors and disposal into separate bins may be enough to satisfy some consumers. Creating difficult-to-decode passwords and changing them from time to time is the minimum online procedure needed.

But as the sources of data and safeguards grow, so does the cleverness and persistence of criminals who would victimize the innocent and unwary. Nothing is completely foolproof to the truly determined and resourceful, but make it hard on them.

Tipping the cost-benefit ratio heavily in your favor doesn’t have to be ridiculously difficult or expensive. Make it costly for them to take advantage of you and they’ll bypass you in favor of easier targets.

Fortunately, there are available today a blizzard of devices to secure your information.

Before you shred a paper document, you typically need to keep it for a while. Special safes are for sale in a variety of price ranges, with various levels of security. Some are as simple as a locked cabinet, others more like heavy-duty safes. Many models allow inserting documents through a slot, on their way to being shredded.

Combination document disposal and shredders can be had for anywhere from a hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on your volume and security needs. Some inexpensive models are lightweight enough to be easily walked off with. Not a good choice, since any lock can be broken given enough time and persistence. Others offer hinges or other mechanisms to easily tip and dispose of the shredded material.

Since shredded paper consumes more volume than the initial documents, it can be handy to have a compactor, often called a baler, similar to those used for decades to compact home trash. How effective they are depends partly on the kind of cutting done – strip or cross-cut or particle – but also heavily on the power of the motor and gears.

Beyond simple strip or cross-cutting, your security needs may require something closer to industrial level. Pulverizers and disintegrators go beyond simple strip or square production. These machines either finely chop or actually turn paper into powder by repeated cross-cutting, mashing and grinding.

Paper, of course, isn’t the only form in which documents are stored these days and there are machines to handle those other media types as well.

Some shredders can also handle CDs and DVDs, floppies and even video tapes. Degaussers can erase hard drives and tapes used to electronically store information. Some degaussers come in the form of simple hand wands passed over the media. There are also more advanced devices that perform chemical decomposition for the truly paranoid.

Beyond document and media destruction, you may need some kind of post-material handling services. Mobile or self-delivered services can add another layer of security and confidentiality. Those businesses take waste and securely dispose of shredded or other materials.

Whatever choice you make, pick the form that meets your budget by all means. But remember, it’s much less expensive to pay a little insurance up front than to pay the cost of identity and data theft after the fact.

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Credit card slips are an obvious target for identity thieves. Much of the activity takes place online, but even today two-thirds of financial information theft takes place offline – by digging through trash cans, pilfering from mailboxes, home break-ins and the like.

Tearing credit card slips and placing the pieces in separate bags is helpful, but the trash all winds up at the same place and large pieces are easy to reassemble. Instead of tearing and tossing, shred them, preferably using a confetti or cross-cut shredder. That way the pieces are easily jumbled and end up far apart. Those are very difficult to put back together. Thieves will usually look for easier targets.

Tax records are another obvious candidate for shredding. Your Social Security number and other confidential data is always found on such documents. Shred discarded ones thoroughly, and keep current documents in a secure, locked cabinet.

Expired credit cards are sometimes just tossed into the garbage. But even if they’re cut into pieces, the pieces are easy to reassemble. Manufacturing a new plastic card is easy. Once the account number and – this is especially important – the three or four digit code printed on the card are known, you’re sunk. Thieves can use a machine that’s easy for them to acquire to make a fake card if they want a duplicate.

Once those printed numbers are known, online theft is as easy as accessing the Internet. Often passwords aren’t even required or can be changed with that small amount of information. Credit card companies assume that if you know the printed digits, you and you alone have physical possession of the card and its data. They can only do so much to protect you.

Less obvious information can also be used to execute an identity theft.

It’s easy for someone to claim that they are you, but they’ve lost a driver’s license to prove it. If they can supply your Social Security number and driver’s license number they are much closer to completing the fraud. Make it hard for them by shredding any old driver’s license that may no longer be used. This can occur, for example, if you move from one state to another.

Receipts for purchases made with a credit card will usually only have the last four digits printed. But that may be the only digits the thief is missing to ‘complete the form’ needed to get your account number. Shred them thoroughly.

Insurance forms can have a Social Security number, checking account number and other private financial data written or printed on the form. Shred them.

Shredding old, canceled checks is a no-brainer. They contain not only your account number but the routing number that can be used for electronic wire transfers. Transfers from your account to the thief’s. Shred them confetti-style.

Anything containing your mother’s maiden name, your dog’s or children’s names, birth dates and other information commonly used to form passwords or secure data are a good candidate for shredding.

Be creative. The thieves are. And they’re looking for any opportunity YOU provide them to get the data they need to steal your identity, your financial data and ultimately your money. Since you can’t shred the thieves, shred the documents.

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On the low end of the price and function scale are personal strip-cutters. You feed in sheets through the opening (called ‘the throat’) and out come long, narrow strips of paper. But even here there are several options.

You’ll want a system that has a throat wide enough to accommodate all the sizes of paper you need to shred. Consider not limiting your purchase to a machine that only slices 8 1/2 x 11. At times you need to shred large quantities of larger sizes. Don’t spend more time tearing or folding it to fit than is worth it.

Consider, too, whether you’ll be shredding a few sheets per day or dozens. Most low-volume, personal shredders are rated for 100-150 sheets per day. But like personal printers, the ratings are usually stated for a brand new or perfectly maintained device.

Shredders, like printers, are mechanical. Parts wear and get dull or loosened. When they do, their tolerances and function decrease. Before long, they’ll slice only 75% to 50% of their new-rated capacity. Unless the price is low enough to make it worthwhile to replace the machine often, buy a little more shredding capacity than you think you’ll need.

Shredding capacity comes in another form: number of simultaneous sheets. Your time is too valuable to spend feeding one or two sheets into the shredder on those larger jobs. You’ll want a machine that can shred several sheets at the same time without jamming or dulling the blades.

Here again capacity is often overstated. A machine rated for 6-8 sheets will realistically do 4-5 after a few months of use.

This number is especially subject to marketing manipulation since it depends so much on the thickness of the paper shredded. 24 bond paper is thicker than 20 bond. Take into account what you’ll be shredding most and buy enough capacity for your needs.

Beyond the basic needs for durable parts, heavy-duty blades and adequate capacity there are other factors to consider.

The U.S. Government defines several levels of security that have been adopted and adapted for use by businesses. Levels are determined by a combination of size and sensitivity. Wider strips are easier to re-assemble, but that doesn’t matter much if the information isn’t too valuable. These are the numerous standards for the security levels of paper shredders as set by the US General Services Administration (GSA).

- DIN 32757
Level 1 = 12 mm strips
Level 2 = 6 mm strips
Level 3 = 2 mm strips (Confidential)
Level 4 = 2 x 15 mm particles (Commercially Sensitive)
Level 5 = 0.8 x 12 mm particles (Top Secret or Classified)
Level 6 = 0.8 x 4 mm particles (Top Secret or Classified)

- United States Department of Defense (DoD)
Top Secret = 0.8 x 11.1 mm (1/32″ × 7/16″)

- United States NSA/CSS 02-01 = 1 × 4 mm

To deal with the different levels required, shredder models are available in a variety of cutting patterns.

Strip-cut shredders are the standard, low-volume, personal type available online or at ordinary office supply stores. Strip widths vary from 1/2 to 1/8 inch or less and, naturally, the narrower the strip the more secure – provided strips are cut perpendicular to the line of type. Strips cut parallel to sentences are very easy to re-assemble.

Most people don’t want to have to pay too much attention to the way they feed paper. And even vertical strips can still be fairly easily put back together. To deal with this, and to provide the extra security needed, cross-cut shredders can be purchased.

Cross-cut shredders cut paper horizontally and vertically in one pass. Feed the paper normally and dual sets of blades slice the paper into small rectangles.

Cross-cut shredders cost a little more and require a little more maintenance. The blades require simple-to-do oiling from time to time, and since there are two sets with more mechanical controls the price is higher.

But cross-cuts offer considerably enhanced security, since the pieces are damnably difficult to put back together. Also, since they’re small pieces rather than long strips, the results compress better. That means less time spent emptying the basket. For a busy small or home office with sensitive information that’s money well spent.

The same factors that apply to strip-cutters should be considered with cross-cutters, only more so. Buy enough volume capacity to minimize the time needed to shred documents. And make sure you get one that can confetti-ize several sheets at once without jamming.

Beyond the basic types, you’ll want to look for models that have extra, convenient features.

Some models have auto-paper sensors. Feed the paper into the throat and a pressure or light sensor detects paper and automatically begins the shredding cycle. No need to press a button. Just feed and forget.

Self or low maintenance shredders are handy. Some use a kind of carbon dust common in lubricating locks, rather than oil. Some have an oil reservoir that you fill once and can forget for months on end. Some will have a light indicating when more oil is needed. Be sure to use only shredder oil, specially formulated to not leave residue on the blades or attract paper dust that can clog cutters.

Some models have a light to indicate a jam and provide for automatic shut-off when one occurs. A reverse feed option is helpful for clearing paper when jams do happen.

A semi-transparent basket is convenient for showing when it’s time to empty the container. Some models have a rack or molded basket to insert plastic bags to hold shredded paper.

Shredder manufacturers will sometimes produce special bags that are ‘best for our brand’. Most times these are unnecessary, but there’s one type where those can be useful. Certain models have not only a shredder, but a compactor/container below. Those heavier-duty bags are helpful on those types.

Size and shapes are as varied as individual tastes and needs. Slender models are available to fit under the desk or beside it in narrow spaces. Expandable-side models allow you to use different size baskets to accommodate light or heavy quantities.

Some models provide only the shredding unit and are designed to fit over a standard office wastebasket. Some have adapters that can fit over round or different sized rectangular containers.

Which one you choose will, naturally, depend on your volume and security needs as well as your budget. But don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish. In this age of identity and credit card theft, spending a little more up-front could save you hundreds of dollars and major hassles if you’re victimized.

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With the growth of computer technology, copiers and the Internet over the past few decades more information is stored than ever before. It was once predicted that their lower cost and increased use would lead to a ‘paperless society’. Oh, would that it were so! The growth of those technologies has only increased the use of paper along with the other methods for storing data.

That data has to be protected from unauthorized use, even after it’s no longer needed by the authorized user. Shredding is one of the most important ways of doing that. One key adjunct of home shredding devices is document destruction and disposal companies.

Not only is it necessary to shred documents, hard drives, CDs and other storage media. You have to do something with the stuff after it’s destroyed. Destroyed doesn’t mean disintegrated. That’s the function of commercial shredders, shredding bins, trucks and disposal facilities. They take the material to the next stage.

They go beyond simple ‘trash collection’, because one of the most common methods of identity theft is to sift through your trash and piece back together shredded documents. They can securely remove the shredded material and ensure that no one ever sees it again. Once burned or mixed with tons of other material, there’s no way for potential thieves to get at your information.

They also offer bulk shredding services. If you have a large amount of material, or material that’s hard to rend such as CDs or hard drives, they can solve the problem. Laws and simple common sense both require protection of your medical records. These companies have specialized equipment and the knowledge of how to protect your personal and business information.

Whether onsite or as a location to which you can take sensitive information, they provide a service it would be difficult to perform for yourself past a certain point. It would be difficult and cost-prohibitive for an individual to have a bulk shredder, a baler and other large scale equipment to do the job properly.

Congress can pass laws to punish violators, but they can’t prevent the violations in advance. Only you and those you pay for services can do that. So, if the shredding business is doing well, it’s because they provide products and services that help you keep your information private. Ultimately, that keeps your money where it belongs: in your pocket, not the criminal’s.

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Many financial documents are held for seven years or more in order to satisfy tax requirements. Yet for most individuals, there’s no law mandating the type or period of documents that are retained.

Though a homeowner or a small business may well find it in their interest to keep the records, if they destroy them they’re not breaking the law. One may get audited and lack the needed data to defend against any IRS point-of-view. But no penalty is added for not having the data.

But medical records have special requirements by law, both for the patient and the doctor.

Doctors, hospitals and others who offer medical services hold all kinds of personal information about patients. Since many services are rendered on credit, they often have data that falls under laws requiring confidentiality and certain document disposal methods, such as shredding.

They also, obviously, keep records about their patients’ medical conditions and histories. That data is considered private and must be kept so.

But medical practitioners face a dilemma. They are required to hold on to the data for a period of time. Then they have to make good faith efforts to dispose of it properly and at the right time.

Those periods and conditions differ from state to state, but in general the period is often many years. Some allow moving paper documents onto long term storage media, followed by destruction of the paper after five years. Regulations, like most laws, are complex.

Once the data on paper has become obsolete, either through death, relocation or other status change, it can be transferred or just destroyed. Which, again depends on specific regulations. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and several other Federal regulations determine the overall requirements and states enact their own specific laws. Agencies then determine the detailed procedures.

Patients, too, find themselves in a similar dilemma. A parent that maintains records relating to a child’s medical condition and/or history may want to dispose of that data a few years after they’ve left for college. Shredding is one of the most cost-effective ways of doing that, but it can often be important to retain the data while destroying the original media. Then, it helps to have a scanner.

If a medical condition or history has played a role in a lawsuit, the issue becomes still more complex. Lawsuits can take years to settle. Even after a judgment is reached, a losing defendant can renege on paying the bill after a few months or years. To enforce the original judgment sometimes requires not just a copy of the original legal documents but the medical records used in the case.

Knowing how to handle medical records requires a knowledge of the applicable laws, combined with some foresight about their possible use in the future. Before you undertake to shred them, be sure you’ve investigated the requirements and your options.

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In an age when identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S. – thanks to the Internet, online banking, easy access to credit card numbers and so forth – one of the fastest rising business categories focuses on one kind of destruction: document shredding.

Document shredding companies, like any other, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small, family-run outfits with a single truck or location. Others are giant industrial concerns that have thousands of customers and often work as a sub-contractor for the Mom and Pop shops.

Whatever their size, companies break down into two basic types or services: offsite or onsite. You bring it to them, or they come to you.

For years, offsite storage was the most secure. Document theft enroute was almost non-existent. Locations that accepted documents for storage and destruction were (and are) well guarded and employees received specialized training and bonding. With many of their major customers being Federally regulated banks, they had to be professionals.

With the improvement of transportation and technology, onsite services have evolved to be as or more secure, and sometimes less expensive.

Trucks along with shredding, pulverizing and burning machines, and other technology have all advanced. New materials and manufacturing techniques have made it possible to create shredding systems that are cheaper, stronger and more secure than ever.

Innovative onsite disposal and storage systems have evolved. One method, for example, involves having individuals or small business owners dump documents into bag-lined, locked metal bins that are delivered by truck. The bins are as or more difficult to break into as the home or business itself and are secured to make theft not an option for most criminals.

Documents in the bins are then destroyed by in-built shredders or taken back to a central site and shredded, pulverized or burned. The product is then mixed further, on request, and disposed of in public trash facilities.

Prices for the services vary, naturally.

Onsite or mobile shredding businesses that do the destruction on location generally are manned during normal business hours. You pay more for that extra service. But, for those who want that extra feeling of security from knowing that the documents are destroyed before leaving the business, it may be worth it. And sometimes such mobile services are, in fact, less expensive.

Often offsite businesses will offer several related services. Some documents are legally required to be retained in physical form for a period of several months or years before they can be destroyed. Businesses that have historically offered secure document storage facilities can then add document shredding services to the menu. Sometimes they outsource the actual destruction. That variety of services comes with correspondingly different prices.

As in any competitive business, prices vary by location, service offered and simply because some businesses are run more efficiently and can pass the savings onto their customers.

But these days, with thieves becoming ever more sophisticated and – as security technology grows – more desperate, the one thing you can’t afford is getting a service cheap because it doesn’t do the job properly.

Shop around and interview the operations manager and visit the offsite plant whenever possible. For mobile services, monitor the employees that deliver and pick-up the bins, or operate the equipment. Check that they are bonded and receive proper background reviews and training.

It’s your information and your money on the line. Choosing a company wisely is critical to protecting them. Find one that’s really good at destruction of information, to avoid destroying your income.

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The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) passed a regulation called The Disposal Rule mandating that certain types of information be protected. The methods are flexible, but the businesses required to do so cover a wide arena.

Mortgage brokers maintain confidential financial records. Doctor and attorneys keep private data about a wide range of their patients’ and clients’ personal information and actions. Debt collectors, too, retain data that is supposed to be kept secret. Even landlords, auto dealers and a host of other businesses large and small collect information that is expected to be kept away from prying eyes.

Looking at the list of businesses it’s easy to see what type of information needs to be protected.

Details about bank account numbers and balances are available not just to banks themselves. Auto dealers maintain that information when you borrow money through them to buy a car. Landlords use that information to make decisions about whether and to whom to rent. Private investigators often obtain such information in the course of working a case.

But the rule doesn’t only cover brick and mortar businesses, or even extend just to Internet-based businesses. If you hire domestic help – a nanny, a gardener, a handyman or other – you may have access to a Social Security number, background data and other personal information. As an employer, you are required to make reasonable efforts to keep that information confidential.

That means that any employment application that contains such data has to be kept secured and disposed of properly when it’s no longer needed. It means even if you do no more than write the information onto a piece of notebook paper, you need to keep that paper locked away. Then when it’s obsolete because of projects completed, employment terminated and the like, it should be disposed of so that no unauthorized use is likely.

Shredding is one of the best ways to accomplish those goals. To protect the information, to make it unreadable by unauthorized prying eyes. That makes it easy to do what you should be doing anyway, and to comply with the law that requires you to do it.

It only takes a few minutes to keep that data protected. Simple to use, low-cost shredders can quickly make any regular document or paper unreadable with little effort. Some shredders are so thorough it would take far more effort than it’s worth for criminals to piece it back together. Like a well-protected home in the face of a burglar, they’ll simply move on to an easier target.

Beefier units are available that can even shred CDs, DVDs and the like. A good magnet-based device can help erase an obsolete hard drive to the point of unrecoverability.

Follow good practices, follow the law and the data in your hands will stay out of the wrong ones.

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Recycling helps keep the cost of paper products lower than it otherwise might be in some cases. It’s expensive to grow and harvest new trees, prepare them and turn them into paper products. By reusing existing paper products, mixing them with new paper, the costs of producing them can be offset.

In some cases, recycling is more expensive. Sometimes, because of irrational laws and foolish business practices, mixing recycled paper products with new actually makes the total cost higher. But any good idea can be executed badly, especially when unthinking government officials are involved. In most cases, recycling makes good business sense.

Everyone also has an interest in keeping the environment pristine and being as efficient as possible. The better job we do at that, the more we gain from living in a more livable world. Recycling helps further that goal.

Recycled products reduce the need to grow and harvest new trees, which consumes land that could be used for other purposes. One of those purposes, of course, is simply leaving it as is to enjoy in its natural state.

Recycled material can also help reduce the energy consumed in making paper and paper-related products. That again supports the twin benefits of lowering costs and helping the environment. Though debates continue to rage between many about the pros and cons of environmentalism, all can agree that being more efficient about energy use is a value.

The amount of recycled material that goes into products varies. Sometimes it’s as low as a few percent, other times as high as 30% or more. In some cases it’s even the overwhelming majority of the bulk. But every little bit helps.

Shredding paper waste contributes to all those goals. Baling the shredded material together is the next stage in the process, since it provides a large quantity of paper for recycling. Commercial shredding companies often produce as much as several tons a day of baled shredded paper ready for recycling.

Just one modest-sized company produced over 7,500 tons of paper in a year that went to recycling plants. That’s equivalent to about 75,000 trees that didn’t have to be harvested. Multiply that by the many companies around who perform that service and the effect becomes huge.

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Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S. And what is worse for homeowners and small businesses is that, with recent court decisions and legislation, sometimes you can be held at fault along with the thief.

There’s now a law in effect that if you employ even one person, even in the home only, such as a nanny or gardener, you can be held liable if they are subject to identity theft. All that’s needed is for you to have access to their personal information, such as a Social Security number, and fail to properly protect it.

What counts as proper? Shredding, burning, pulverizing and secure disposal.

You’re required to exercise due diligence and shred documents containing the information. And that shredding has to be done carefully, such as by inserting the document into the shredder perpendicular to the blades, so that text is made harder to reassemble.

Alternatively, you can burn documents. But burning is often illegal outside the home in certain counties, so you have to carry it out in an approved manner. Can you spell Catch-22?

Pulverizing is the most secure form of document destruction for most individuals, and of course the most troublesome and expensive. It can be carried out by multiple shredding actions, such as shredding in one direction, then picking up the strips and shredding them in the other. Or, it can be done in one operation by special machines.

Of course, you always have the option of using a business that specializes in document and information destruction. Whether that’s cost-effective depends on the business’ specific rates and the amount and frequency of your needs. The rates, naturally, vary with location, quantity and several other factors.

Those businesses come in two basic forms: you take it to them, or they come to you. Once again, which is better depends on your circumstances.

Until recently security was much tighter at offsite locations. Most mobile document destruction services have overcome that by clever techniques that vary from company to company. Good ones have bonded employees who have gone through background checks.

Both employers and individuals need to take due caution to keep information secure and that can go beyond destruction of paper documents. In the last 10 to 20 years, as both PCs and the Internet became universal, information storage expanded to floppy disks and hard drives to CDs and DVDs and out to servers that the individual doesn’t even control.

Beyond encrypting documents and establishing good password policies, there’s little an individual or small business can do to protect computers they don’t own. But with the popularity of inexpensive CD and DVD burners, files have moved off the hard drive and onto those newer media. Those also need to be secured and sometimes destroyed. Shredders can do that too.

Even after shredding there are other steps that can and sometimes should be taken. If the information is sensitive enough, or easily obtained and reassembled, there are post-shredding machines and businesses that provide that extra layer of security for those who need it. At a price, of course.

Protect yourself and those who work for you by shredding and other forms of information destruction. It’s not only the law of the land, it’s also the least expensive form of insurance for what can otherwise be a very costly event.

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