Integra Certified Document Destruction Achieves Certification

Integra Certified Document Destruction Achieves Certification

Integra Certified Document Destruction Achieves Recertification from the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID)

ELKHART, INDIANA, UNITED STATES - October 10^th, 2018 - Integra Certified Document Destruction (“Integra”) is proud to announce that it has met or exceeded all requirements set forth by the National Association for Information Destruction (“NAID”) to continue to be rated as an AAA Certified document destruction leader in its industry.

How Common is Identity Theft by Someone You Know?

When we think about identity theft, most of us picture someone we don’t know stealing our information from our mailbox or an online source or a faceless person hacking an entire system and gaining access to personal information.

What if this faceless, unknown person was someone you knew or even someone who lives in your house?

“Familiar fraud" occurs when a friend, extended family member or even a spouse, child or parent uses a close relationship for his or her own financial gain.”

Identity Theft in the Age of Social Media

We’ve increasingly heard the term “identity theft” and heard about how to protect ourselves from being a victim. Things like shredding junk mail and documents containing sensitive information, not giving out credit card information or social security numbers and securing your mail in a post office box. But social media is safe, right? Think again.

“Social media, in its present form, has been around a relatively short term and even though you probably can’t imagine living without it now, except for the last few decades, everyone did.”

What's the Cost of Identity Theft?

Identity thieves stole almost $17 billion in 2017. Although this figure is an unfathomable amount for most of us, it is merely the amount of actual money stolen and doesn’t take into consideration things like “time spent resolving identity theft issues and the emotional and psychological stresses caused by identity theft.”

“Since 2003, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) has been surveying victims of identity theft to understand things like how long it takes them to find out they're a victim, what they experience, how long it takes them to fix the issues caused by identity theft and how much money it costs them to recover.

Facts About Identity Theft

“Nearly 60 million Americans have been affected by identity theft, according to a 2018 online survey by The Harris Poll. That same survey indicates nearly 15 million consumers experienced identity theft in 2017.”

Other staggering statistics about the growing problem of identity theft are below.

Is Shredding My Documents Really Necessary?

Check stubs, bank statements, account numbers, and actually any documents with personal information such as social security numbers or sensitive medical information on them.

What do these have in common? Every one of them could be used by identity thieves and should be disposed of by shredding.

Preparing Your Documents for Shredding

Most people realize that such things as binders or even binder clips can’t be left on sensitive material to be shredded. 

This holds true for personal shredders, of course, but professional shredding services as well. But are we doing too much to prepare documents for shredding with a professional shredding service.

What Type of Paper Shredder is the Best?

Although shredding or destroying sensitive documents has been around for decades, the necessity of shredding or having a professional document destruction service has gained popularity in the past few decades.

“As well as size and capacity, shredders are classified according to the method they use and the size and shape of the shreds they produce. 

Integra Account Manager Honored After Shred Event

On June 17, 2017 WNDU partnered with Integra Certified Document Destruction and held a shred event to raise money for WNDU's annual Pack-A-Backpack.

The event, scheduled for 7:00am– Noon saw cars lining up as early as 6:30am until well after 12:30pm to have sensitive documents shredded and donate to such a worthy cause.

Mailbox Theft Leading to Identity Theft

Even years ago it was said that, “your mailbox is the riskiest non-technological point for identity theft.” With the incidences of theft out of people’s mailboxes considerably high,

To combat the rising incidences of mailbox theft, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has developed a service called “Informed Delivery” where a computer “scans the outside of your mail and shows you the images each morning before the mail is actually delivered.” You simply sign up for this service and the images are sent to you daily via email.

Why Should I Shred Junk Mail?

Once you take your name and address off of your junk mail, you can throw it right into your recycling without any worry that your identity could be stolen, right? Not quite.

“Most people don’t realize it, but junk mail usually has a computer bar code on the front that can sometimes contain personally identifying information. 

How Safe Are Personal Hotspots?

Wi-Fi has become a household word in the past 2 decades. Free WiFi is also an amenity offered by stores, restaurants, and hotels all over the United States. But how safe is free WiFi?

There are several ways in which WiFi poses the threat of Internet crimes. “Since the Internet is a relatively new phenomenon, the laws governing Internet usage may vary widely according to region or state. However, the following types of Internet activity can be classified under the broad umbrella term of “Internet theft”: 

Is it Safe To Give Out My Credit Card's Security Code?

With identity theft being the number one consumer complaint for several years running, it begs the question of whether anyone is safe regardless if we give out our credit card’s security code.

“MasterCard started issuing in 1997 and Visa in the United States issued them by 2001. American Express started to use the CSC in 1999 in response to growing internet transactions.”

Can I Put My Documents to be Shredded in Plastic Bags?

The need for document destruction services has become evident and risen to staggering levels in the past couple decades.  This is, in large part, due to the hundreds of thousands of people falling victim to identity theft and fraud each year.

Document destruction companies make this service very easy for customers by offering on-site shredding, off-site shredding, and public shred events.  One of the things we can do to make these services go more smoothly is to put documents to be shredded in boxes rather than plastic bags.

What Time Will My Shredding Service Be Here?

Service providers generally work between the respectable hours of 8:00am to 5:00pm to give those receiving service some semblance of a normal workday.

Any cable, telephone, pool, or most any other service provider accommodate schedules by not only being there to service you between respectable hours, but possibly even giving you a smaller window of time during the day that they will be to your home to provide service.

If I Take My Documents to be Shredded, How Do I Know They Are Actually Destroyed?

Certified document destruction companies have standards and procedures in place that must be followed in order to be certified by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).

One of those policies is to provide each customer with a certificate of destruction to all customers who have sensitive information destroyed. 

Are Spiral-Bound Notebooks Acceptable In With My Shredding?

According to Cambridge.org, a spiral notebook is “a book of paper for writing that is held together by a wire that curves around and around through small holes at the edge of the paper.

Of course, the paper and the cardboard cover are recyclable, shredable items, but the metal spiral binding is questionable in both respects.

Can I Put Plastic Binders In With My Shredding?

Plastic spiral binding, also called comb binding, “is one of many ways to bind pages together into a book. This method uses round plastic spines with 19 rings (for US Letter size) or 21 rings (for A4 size) and a hole puncher that makes rectangular holes. Comb binding is sometimes referred to as plastic comb binding or spiral comb binding.”

Since these binders are made of plastic, some recycling centers will accept them in their recycling bins. Shredding them may be a bit of a different story.

Can I put Hanging File Folders In With My Material To Be Shredded?

The hanging folder has metal hooks on all four corners that slide over a rail. Hanging folders can be used to file one or more manila folders or can be used to put loose sheets directly into the hanging folders, themselves.

When documents need to be retrieved, the corresponding manila folder or paper is removed from the hanging folder, leaving hanging folder, itself, in its place on the rails.

Compliance...It's No Small Matter

August 1st, 2012 from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, “court documents containing personal information
of court respondents sat for weeks in a dumpster outside a Madison County building.”

August 2nd, 2012 from News Channel 7 in Spartanburg-Greenville, NC, “a tax preparer who closed her business three years ago says she unknowingly dumped boxes of records recently, some of which included personal information.”