Here’s How Document Shredding Could Keep You Within the Law

Document shredding is a proven tactic used to help protect information from landing into the wrong hands. It’s so proven in fact, that in some cases its implementation can help organizations meet legal obligations set out in various US federal legislation.

Here in the US there are many different laws concerning the handling of information in and across various industries. The intent behind most of this sort of legislation is to protect sensitive data (whether it belongs to consumers, students, patients or others) from finding its way into the hands of those with malicious intent. The general idea is that through certain handling and disposal protocols, organizations can significantly lower their risk of allowing information to make its way into the wrong hands in-tact.

We’ve put together a brief overview of a few of the biggest pieces of legislation which contain such information handling provisions:

 

HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) was put into effect in 1996. It was created with the intention of protecting sensitive patient information and maintaining and safeguarding the privacy of certain forms of patient information. HIPAA applies to many different businesses and organizations that work in the health services sector, and many penalties are outlined for those organizations that neglect to act within compliance.

 

FACTA

Enacted in 2005, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) applies to basically all businesses and individuals in the United States. More specifically, FACTA applies to anyone that maintains or collects consumer information. Consumer information can include things such as social security numbers, names, addresses and other contact information for consumers or clientele. FACTA was also designed with the intent of protecting sensitive consumer information.

 

FERPA

This piece of legislation is slightly narrower in scope. FERPA applies to all educational agencies and institutions in the United States that receive funding from the Department of Education. Known formally as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA was enacted in 1974 with the purpose of regulating and managing the way educational information was shared and handled to and among public entities. These public entities could include foreign governments or publicly funded educational institutions, for example.

 

Where Document Shredding Comes into Play

These three pieces of legislation all deal with sectors that work with, produce and dispose of highly sensitive information daily. Aligning with the disposal requirements often means taking extra steps to ensure that information is left in a virtually non-recoverable state when it is no longer needed.

Professional document shredding services can do exactly that. NAID AAA Certified shredding services, such as ours, are held and maintained to among the highest standards in the world for ensuring that documents are thoroughly and securely destroyed and disposed of.

 

We’re Here for You and Your Business

If you’re looking for a secure and professional shredding service that you can depend on, Business Data Record Services’ secure shredding services are available both on and off-site as you need them. We also offer electronic shredding services for hard drives and other media.

Talk to our team today to get started on putting together a solution that fits your needs and budget!