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.

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. 

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.”

Electronic Pickpocketing

How Do We Protect Ourselves From High-Tech Hackers?

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 72.1 percent of American consumers in the United States owned at least 1 credit card in 2012. Modern thieves can purchase powerful scanners for less than $100 that can wirelessly retrieve your credit card information from up to 25 feet away! If you’re not scared yet, for just $300 more, they can buy a device that replicates your credit card.

How Do I Destroy Old Credit Cards?

By now, most people know that they should keep their important papers safe and some ways to keep documents containing sensitive information from inadvertently falling into the wrong hands.

Shredding personal documents is almost always the way to go…and the bigger the pile of shredded material to add it to, the better. But what about credit cards, themselves? 

A Shred Of Evidence

A Los Angeles woman flew to Las Vegas, ate at one of the finest restaurants, gambled, and went on a shopping spree….all from the comfort of her own living room. How is this possible, you ask? She was the victim of identity theft.

Records show that 2 credit cards were opened in her name, and high-dollar items were ordered from the Internet, along with her bank accounts being all but wiped out.

Why Should I Destroy My Hard Drives?

Discussions of identity theft conjure up thoughts of peoples’ trash or mailboxes being gone through or stolen from. But you have a post office box and shred all of your old documents and mail so you are completely safe from the threat of identity theft, right? Maybe not.
 
Have you ever had to present your identification at a business like a doctor’s office for them to copy for their records? Or made copies of sensitive documents for one reason or another? Hard drives are devices for storing and retrieving digital information, primarily computer data.

According to a CBS News report, nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive storing an image of every document anyone has ever copied, scanned or emailed.

Why Should I Shred My Personal Documents?

Check stubs, bank statements, account numbers, and actually any documents with personal information such as social security numbers 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. 

The amount of information obtained and damage done by someone only having your name, address, date of birth, and phone number is astonishing. Add your social security number, bank account number and your mother’s maiden name to the mix and you have a veritable recipe for disaster.

What Does AAA Certified Mean To Me?

The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) has a certification program that was
developed by information security professionals and recognized by thousands of private and governmental organizations around the world.

What Type Of Shredder Is The Safest Against Identity Theft?

With Identity Theft affecting almost 10% of American adults each year, most people agree that destroying personal documents is the very best protection we can give ourselves. But what destruction method is best?