Confidentiality and business go hand-in-hand — a fact that isn’t necessarily making headlines. However, there is one casualty of the professional sphere that is noteworthy: identity theft.

When you’re choosing the right document shredding services for your business, there are a few things to keep in mind when making a decision. First, security should be the foremost consideration. How does the document shredding service handle your sensitive documents, bank account information, client paperwork, and legal documents?

It is mandated by law that every business puts in place steps to protect customer and employee information. This is to deter the efforts of fraudsters who would use such information to carry out white collar crime like siphoning funds out of the bank accounts or credit and debit cards of unsuspecting people. Every business must therefore have in place a strategy for document shredding based on its the nature of its activities, its scope and other specifics.

When companies simply tear up and throw away their documents, they put themselves at risk of someone retrieving and reading them. These documents often contain sensitive information such as company bank account details and client records that criminals can use to steal identities. Someone can break into a bank account or start using a credit card within minutes of stealing the information.

Many people assume that erasing data from a hard drive deletes it forever. However, unless you fully format a hard drive or external drive, these files remain in some form. A criminal doesn’t have to have a lot of hacking experience to get at these files and do an enormous amount of damage in a matter of minutes.

As a business owner or manager, you must be aware of the legal requirements to protect customer and employee records. It is also required by law that documents that contain financial information that can be used to steal identities and carry out white collar fraud are destroyed by shredding.

With identity fraud targeting a new victim every two seconds, document destruction is more important than ever. Modern organizations cannot set up a crosscut shredder in the break room and assume they are protected. From phone messages to tax forms to hard drives, companies have a wealth of sensitive information that must be disposed of properly. If confidential data gets into the wrong hands, the consequences can be detrimental. You don’t want to compromise the success of your business by leaving the company susceptible to identity theft.

Protecting private customer and employee information is a critical aspect of running a modern business. Regardless of the size of your organization, you cannot risk having sensitive details about your clients or your employees get out to the public. A single security breach can compromise years of hard earned, good reputation. The last thing that you want is to have customers or employees going elsewhere because they can no longer trust you. Take the necessary precautions so that everyone’s information stays safe.

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States. The majority of business identity theft happens in the dumpsters right on company premises. Not taking the right steps to destroy documents leaves a business susceptible to theft.

Electronic file storage and exchange are now the norm. While they offer the advantages of speed and convenience in executing business transactions, there is a down side and it is that information may fall into the wrong hands. These are the hands of criminals who use it to commit various crimes including identity theft and electronic theft such as credit card fraud. UCI Mobile Paper Shredding services eliminate this risk.