Shredding Service | Paper Shredding | Document Shredding | Shredder

Not Shredding Costs $1.1 Million

2010-08-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has fined Payday Loan Stores more than $1.1 million for failing to protect consumer information. The fine is the result of the company throwing credit applications into the trash at its Bolingbrook location.

Every regulatory agency is looking for money. And what is easier than finding documents in the trash. This is a warning for any business in Illinois that the cost of an Illinois shredding service is a fraction of the cost of not shredding.

Shredding in Boulder, Colorado

2010-08-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

In Boulder, Colorado they don't throw paper away; they recycle it. The problem is they don't always shred it before recycling. A discovery was made of employee records with personal information discarded at a recycling plant. They called the local news who came out and did a story.

Walgreen's Investigated for Shredding

2010-08-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has confirmed that they are investigating Walgreens for HIPAA violations relating to pharmacies failing to shred patient information. This is no surprise after the HHS got $2.25 million in settlement with number two chain CVS and $1 million from number three chain Rite Aid.

If you need money for your agency you can either get increases approved by congress or use existing laws to increase fines. The OCR must see HIPAA as an easy way to boost the budget. Every medical practice needs to be vigilant to protect themselves. You must either make shredding easy and documented with a service or make sure a manager is supervising the process.

School Records Need to be Shredded

2010-08-18T08:21:00.001-07:00

The Riverview Gardens School District in St Louis, Missouri needs to work on their document destruction program. Parents coming back to school are now getting a warning about identity theft along with their school supply list. That is because student records were found in the dumpster. The records included names, addresses and even social security numbers.

These are hard times for school budgets but if they can't afford a St Louis shredding service then they can at least have the parents dispose of their children's record.

HIPAA Violation in Boston

2010-08-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Several hospitals in Boston are investigating a HIPAA violation that left hundreds of patient charts in the trash. The files were found by a photographer for The Boston Globe. He notified the paper of the problem. [article]

The increased penalties to HIPAA that came with the Stimulus Package make this a very expensive mistake. It sure makes the cost of document shredding seem small.

Spartanburg County Treasures to Evaluate Shredding

2010-08-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

The office of the Spartanburg County Treasurer has been caught throwing private tax information into the dumpster. When asked he said the janitorial staff was supposed to take care of the shredding. Apparently his staff shred some things but not all.

There are some common mistakes people make with the document destruction plans. They made three of them in Spartanburg:

If you let low level employees decide what to shred they will end up putting too much in the trash. It is always better to err on the side of shredding all paper.
People will not assign themselves the extra work of shredding. If you hand out shredders and hope for the best you will get bit as they toss paper into the trash can to save time. Employees need to be supervised or a shredding service used to make sure the work is actually done.
No one will notice if there are document in the trash. The will always be people going through the trash and it is protected by a ruling by the Supreme Court.

San Antonio Lawyer Not Shredding

2010-07-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

David Naworski is an attorney in San Antonio. He doesn't dress up for work and he doesn't shred his client files. He was caught throwing personal information into the dumpster by KENS. When confronted with the violation of Texas' Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act he just shrugged his shoulders. He better hope the state doesn't employ one of his competitors to collect the $50,000 fine for violating the law.

If you don't have $50,000 to pay fines here are some good shredding services in San Antonio.

Medical Records Dumped in Orlando

2010-07-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Local newscasts love to do the story on personal information in the dumpster. I wonder if they just a story that they copy and paste from. The only way to avoid the cameras is to make sure you are shredding (and your partners are shredding) . LV Financial Services went out of business and all of their records ended in the dumpster. These included medical records that the company was using for collections.

Medical Records Must Be Shredded

2010-07-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Many doctors are taking advantage of the money provided by the Stimulus Package and scanning their records into Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The just need to make sure that the paper records get disposed of properly. A medical office in Tampa thought they could get away with just leaving them at a recycling center instead of having them shredded. They were discovered and now the matter has been handed over to the Attorney General's office. [story].

If you are a medical practice then here are some good shredding services in Tampa.

If You Aren't Shredding Beware

2010-07-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

Businesses spend a tremendous amount of time and money to build their reputation. Then some turn around and ruin it by not shredding their customers' personal information. They throw it in the dumpster thinking no one will notice. But many people go through dumpsters on a regular basis. They may be looking for boxes for a move or to recycle cans. In this case it was the news looking for businesses who don't shred. It is an easy piece to run and it is never a challenge to find violators.

The only question is does your business use a shredding service that provide you with a document of destruction or do you have a written statement when the news show up?

Personal Documents in Spartanburg

2010-07-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

The latest treasure trove of personal information was found behind a mortgage company in Spartanburg, SC. The files contained full mortgage applications -- everything an identity thief would need. [video] A friend of the company says it is not their fault. I would tend to disagree. If you want your employees to shred you should make it convenient for them to do so. The only way is with locked shredding bins located around the office.

If you don't want your business on the local news for the wrong reasons then here are some shredding companies in Spartanburg.

Shredder Needed at Parks Department

2010-06-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento Department of Parks and Recreation must have a great number of tree shredders but they don't seem to own a paper shredder. When it came time to purge old records they went straight to the dumpster instead of being properly disposed. Several boxes containing personal information and social security numbers were discovered in their dumpster.

If you don't own a shredder or have done the calculation to know that a shredding service saves money we are here to help: Sacramento Shredding

Shredders Inc Acquired

2010-06-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

Automated Records Management Systems Inc. of DePere Wisconsin has acquired Security Shredder Inc. of Seymore, Wisconsin the company disclosed Wednesday. Financial details were not released.

Middle Township need some Shredding

2010-06-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Middle Township Municipal Hall is looking into why personal documents were left in a dumpster. The documents contained personal information of residents including social security numbers. Township Administrator Mark Mallett is heading the investigation and promised to fix the problem. [story]

If you leave the decision on what to shred to the lowest trained and lowest paid members of your organization this is all but certain to happen. That is why organizations that truly care about privacy have a policy of shredding everything. This eliminates one possible error point. Plus it all gets recycled.

Doctor Learns Hard Lesson about HIPAA

2010-06-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

Dr. David Brown of St Louis learned a hard lesson about HIPAA this week. Instead of shredding his old patient files he left them in the dumpster behind his office. There were discovered and the local media was notified. He admitted the error and said it wouldn't happen again. Based on the reviews it was an honest mistake but it is the older files that pose the greatest risk. That is because your insurance number was your SSN historically. So undoubtedly every page had the patients SSN.

When your practice needs to clean out some old files we have several shredding service options in St Louis.

Completing the Loop

2010-06-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

We have reported on the DMV leaving personal records in the dumpster. We have reported on medical offices leaving records in the dumpster. Now we have have medical offices leaving personal records in a DMV dumpster.

The Avalon Center in New York recently went out of business. Someone from the clinic or cleaning up after them ended up with a number of boxes of patient records. To dispose of them they were left in a dumpster behind the DMV. The are still investigating who is responsible for the HIPAA violation. [story]

FACTA Red Flags Rules Delayed -- Again

2010-06-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

For the fifth time the FTC has delayed the deadline for compliance with the FACTA Red Flags Rule. The deadline moved from June 1st to January 1st, 2011. The rule requires anyone who offers credit to put in systems that would identify potential identity theft. It has been challenged by doctors and lawyers who don't feel they should be covered by the rule. The delay is the result of pressure by the AMA on congress. They have also filed a lawsuit to prevent the implementation of the rule.

Boulder Community Hospital Stumped

2010-06-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

The folks at Boulder Community Hospital seem baffled on how to protect their patients private information. First they had them sitting in unlocked bins outside and they were stolen. Now they have them in locked bins outside and ran stories in the newspaper to let every identity thief in town know which bins to take.

Most hospitals have a locked bin at every station and a shredding service that comes by on a regular schedule to handle the shredding. That keeps the paper secure until it is shredded and saves money from paying employees to do the work on under-sized shredders. A shredding service also provides the documentation needed for HIPAA compliance.

If you need help with a document destruction plan just give us a call at 800.747.3365.

Police Blotter Fun

2010-04-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you have ever read the local police blotter in the paper but some entries can be very humorous. I don't have any of those to report but I did find this one an interesting entry from Vancouver, Washington. The police responded to a report of personal information in a dumpster behind an apartment complex [report].

A shredding service doesn't just save you time and money; it keeps the police from knocking on your door.

The Law Does Require Shredding

2010-04-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Being wrong is ok. Reporting something that is wrong is not.

Alan Cohn of ABC Action News is running a report on identity theft. He reported that a great deal of information is in the trash ,true. He said that much of it was in the dumpsters for businesses and medical practices, also true. Then he reported that no law requires a business to shed personal information, false. While Florida may not have a state law there are several federal laws. The primary ones are FACTA and HIPAA. But there are more document destruction laws.

Next time Alan should try more than one phone call.

Recycling is Not Shredding

2010-04-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is in the process of notifying 1,800 people that their personal information was breached. The problem occurred when personal information was put into a recycling bin instead of shredded. The records were discovered at the recycling center. [press release]

It is a good thing to recycle, but don't forget to shred it first. Want to make it more secure and easier? Hire a shredding service.

Politics is a Dirty Business.

2010-04-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last November we reported that incriminating documents about ACORN had be dug out of a dumpster. This was done by a conservative activist. Well all is fair in politics. The embarrassing contract for a Sarah Palin speech was uncovered when liberal activist dug it out of a dumpster.

Politicians better make sure they are shredding everything because it looks like there are two armies of people who are going to go through your trash on a regular basis.

Credit Applications in the Trash

2010-04-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

People who applied for credit at The Room Store in Annapolis, MD had their information exposed yesterday. During a clean out the store threw the records in the trash before shredding them. The records included contact information, social security numbers and a photocopy of drivers licenses. They were discovered by people walking by who notified the news and police.

While no solution is perfect the best way to make sure all the shredding gets done is to hire a service. If it only cost a couple of dollars and no additional time to shred another box then everything gets destroyed; not most things. Here are some shredding services in Virginia.

Baylor Health Records in Dumpster

2010-04-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Thousands of medical records from the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas have turned up in an apartment dumpster. It is unclear how they got there. [report]

The analogy that comes to mind is that personal records are like toxic waste. It requires great care and can cause tremendous damage is let out.

Shredding and Recycling

2010-04-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

Many offices like to have a three bin system. One for trash, one for recycling and one for shredding. The employees pick which one best fits their need. For a yogurt container the choice is easy. But for a document it gets more difficult. You may have too much end up in the shredding which no one will ever know. Or you may have people put too much into the recycling container which illegally exposes information. An example of this is in Middleton, OH. A dumpster full of private information ended up exposed in a recycling center.

A better solution is a two bin system. One for trash -- food containers, empty boxes and bad pens. The second is for all paper that is shredded and then recycled. This prevents any sensitive information for exposure to theft.

Shredding Bin Security

2010-03-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

After the recent security breaches at University Medical Center in Las Vegas they performed a complete security audit. One problem they found was a lack of accountability for the keys to the shredding bins. The hospital did not know where the keys were and who had access to them.

For most offices, key security is not a major. There is not much public traffic that has access. However, in a busy hospital this isn't the case. There should be a system in place to account for all the keys.

The problem is that increased security means decreased convenience to the staff. They can no longer use the bins as short term storage. Many people complain about not having access if the accidentally throw something in. The administration usually capitulates and gives out keys like candy.

One solution to help solve this problem was Lock Nations. It uses combination locks to eliminate the keys but still provide controlled access. If someone did need to get into the bin they could look up the combination on a secure website. The access was recorded by security so the lock could be changed out.

Once the locks were installed people become much more careful about what they dump and the need to access them declined rapidly to near nothing.

Your Trash is Not Secure

2010-03-17T11:52:00.001-07:00

For every person who thinks that their trash is secure there is another report of a company getting in trouble. For an unknown reason a Pizza Hut was transporting their employee files by car. The car must have been dirty because they stopped at a car wash and dumped the files into the trash can. They were discovered by another patron who contacted the news. Now Pizza Hut has to answer some embarrassing questions. [video]

Every company needs to make sure they have a document shredding program. This means someone or some provider is assigned to the task and supervised.

OfficeMax Looks to Shredding to Boost Revenue

2010-03-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

OfficeMax is looking to return their revenue to company peaks of 2007. To do so they are looking to boost revenue from services. On services they mentioned in their press release was shredding. Doesn't adding more shredding services cut into their sales of shredders?

Pro Temps Responsible for Conyers Data Breach

2010-03-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

The Georgia Office of Consumer Affairs investigation into the records left at the Conyers Recycling Center has led to Pro Temps. The employment agency left the boxes at the recycling center assuming they would be safe. [report]

It is standard procedure at recycling center to sort out the paper by grade. This means the paper is examined by people before it is shipped. Obviously not a secure way to dispose of private information.

Documents Found at Recycling Center

2010-02-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

The Georgia Office of Consumer Affairs is investigating a number of boxes uncovered at the Smyrna Recycling Center. The boxes contained personal information, including W-2 forms and bankruptcy files. The boxes were piled five or six feet deep in a 10-by-20-foot dumpster. [report]

It is bad when you have the bad PR of being on the news for not shredding sensitive information. It is worse when the police are involved. That is when $35,000 fines start coming down. If you don't have the money to pay the fine then it might be time to call your friendly shredder.

How Old is Your Shredding?

2010-02-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

Pricing for a shredding service is based on the volume (or weight) of paper to be shredded. One of the best parts of quoting a job are the answers you ask them how much they need destroyed.

At least half the time the answer comes back with something like "seven years worth." The problem with the answer is it gets you no closer to a volume. What GM produces in seven years is nothing like what an office of 10 people can generate in the same time. A much better answer is the number of boxes or file cabinets worth of files for shredding. This will get you a more accurate quote.

Personal Information in a Macy's Dumpster

2010-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Is it safe to throw any office papers away? The downtown Macy's in St Louis must be asking that question today. Last fall they made the news for leaving personal information in a dumpster that was found blowing down the street. They went though the apologies and promises to do better.

Today more personal information was found in their dumpster. They said it was only one piece but it is impossible to know how much that should be shredded isn't. Now they say the solution is just lids for their trash cans.

This is a good example of why so many document destruction program cover the shredding of every piece of paper. If one piece of paper can cause so much damage to a companies reputation it isn't worth the risk

Shredding in the Ozarks

2010-01-29T13:38:00.000-08:00

Springfield Loan and Finance needs a new shredder. How do we know this? Because when it came time to shred their customers' personal information their shredder broke. At least this is what a company spokesman claim. Then instead of taking care of the problem the simply dumped the records into the trash. They were discovered and reported to KY3.

To help prevent this every business should document the shredding and have it supervised by a manager. This prevents employees from getting lazy and just dumping it in the trash. An alternative is to hire a shredding service who will make it easy to comply with your document destruction program and provide you with a certificate of destruction. But the bonus is it is cheaper than replacing shredders all the time.

AG Investigates Medical Records Disposal

2010-01-29T11:21:00.000-08:00

The North Carolina Attorney General is investigating Prompt Med, formerly known as Battleground Urgent Care for throwing medical records in the trash. The fine for such an offense is up to $5,000 per instance. At 600 medical files that can be up to $3 million.

It is amazing that any medical practice would gamble $3 million to save $100 on shredding.

Metlife Move Goes Awry

2010-01-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

On the weekend of weekend of January 16 the Metlife office in Rockford, Illinois moved to a new location. This wouldn't make the news but in the process they left dumpsters full of their customers private information. The documents were discovered by an out of work machinist looking to collect recyclables. He notified the news and police to the problem. Michael McRaith, director of the Illinois Department of Insurance, and MetLife are investigating the incident [article].

When you are planning an office move don't forget to line up a shredding service. It is a great time to implement a document retention plan. Plus, why pay to move boxes of documents you don't even need.

Medical Identity Theft

2010-01-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

As the nation debates Health care reform one way to cut costs is to eliminate waste. One source is through medical identity theft. This breaks down into five basic types:

Friends and Family. An insured person gives his insurance card to an un-insured friend or relative to get medical treatment.Stolen information.
An un-insured person steals a card to get treatment.
Insurance fraud. An employee at a medical practice processes fictitious claims.
Drug addicts. Someone steals information to obtain drugs for their addiction.
Organized crime. A fake medical facility is created and fictitious claims are run through it.

To help prevent theft keep a close eye on your insurance card and check your statements to see if there are ever any claims that are not valid. Every medical practice should take steps to safeguard medical records.

Dumping Records Costs $35,000

2010-01-21T19:05:00.000-08:00

Gregory Navone of Las Vegas, settled with the FTC for FACTA violations at his two Nevada mortgage companies. Navone owns First Interstate Mortgage Corporation and Nevada One Corporation. The settlement stem from an FTC complaint filed in December 2008. The companies improperly disposed of about 40 boxes of sensitive consumer records. The boxes contained tax returns, mortgage applications, bank statements, credit cards statements, drivers’ licenses, and credit reports.

The dumping of the records was in violation of the FACTA disposal rule. The FTC also ruled that he misrepresentations the data security practices. He was ordered to pay $35,000 in the settlement. [article]

Shredding in ArkLaTex

2010-01-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

SouthTrust advisers has a treasure trove of information for any identity thief sitting right behind their offices in Bossier. The firm had thrown all of their customer's personal information into the trash. This includes social security numbers, address information, and account numbers. [story and video] The firm provides financial services.

One of the best parts of the story is the police officer saying it is not a crime. He needs to read about FACTA because this is a clear violation of the law. In any event it is hard to trust a company with your financial needs when they care so little about the well being of their clients.

How Much is a Shredding Service

2010-01-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

I recently posted about people who want shredding but don't want to pay for it. One can only assume that some of these people will end up burning the documents. I most cities it is illegal to burn trash but I will leave that to the police to find and prosecute. What I do want to mention is the cost of the job not done well. A Pacific Beach woman tried to burn documents and managed to start a fire in her garage that spread to the car parked outside. The initial estimates are for $80,000 in damages. [report]

This sure makes the cost of a shredding service seem small by comparison.

The Security Paradox

2010-01-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

One of the most interesting calls we get is for the homeowner with a box or two to be shredded. They will begin by telling you how valuable their papers are. You explain to them that you understand because we shred thousands of tons a day from banks, hospitals, police stations, insurance companies and the like. Then you get the non-committal humph that their papers are much more valuable than what we shred for anyone else.

Since the homeowner is convinced that they are in possession of the worlds most valuable documents you quote them a mobile shredding service. They will say that it is much too expensive. Never mind that it is less than what a plumber would cost just to ring their doorbell. Maybe these papers aren't more valuable than gold after all.

Since price is the issue we suggest Ship 'n' Shred. It is just as convenient but saves money. They don't like this idea because of the incredible value of these documents and how they must witness the shredding. It is best to skip telling them that if the papers were so valuable why did they trust the mail system to deliver them. Apparently the personal information can only be used after it is delivered the first time.

So you are left with information so valuable they must witness the shredding but they want you to come out in a $250,000 truck for near nothing. We call this the security paradox.

How Long Should We Keep This

2010-01-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

A common question we get is how long people should be saving their documents. The short answer is: it depends. Every type of document has a different retention schedule based on legal requirements and good business practices. It makes good sense to set up a business wide retention policy for your business. Once done make sure it is reviewed by your lawyer and accountant.

To get your started here are basic retention schedules for businesses and homes.

One Quarter of Data Breaches are Paper

2009-12-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

According to data releases by the ITRC, at least 27 percent of the data breaches in 2009 were from paper being documents being stolen or found in the trash. This was based on publicly disclosed breaches. That puts the number of breaches by paper at 125. It is impossible to say how many people were affected. [full article]

While it is the lost/stolen disks that get all the press there is still a real threat from paper documents. Most computers require passwords but the storage area is wide open for any employee.

Atlanta CPA Needs a Shredding Service

2009-12-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

Gregg Bossen, a CPA in Atlanta, should be spending his day starting a shredding service. His original plan of hoping his employees would assign themselves the extra work of shredding didn't work so well. Instead of wasting hours with an office shredder they just left personal tax documents in the trash. They were found by someone looking to recycle boxes. Now he has to answer to the media and police about a data breach. [video]

The numbers are easy to compute: it takes an employee at least three hours to shred a box of documents. At a pay rate of $13/hour that is $39 per box. Then you add in the cost of the shredder, its maintenance, and regular replacement the cost grow. Since we don't know the costs of the loss in clients and fines when they fail to do the job we won't add those in. Compared to a shredding service in Atlanta that will charge less than $7 per box it just doesn't make sense to do the work in house.

Shredding Needed in Battlefield , MO

2009-12-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

There is no town to big or two small to be immune from business tossing personal information into the dumpster. The latest to make the news is Nation Wide Credit Counseling. They were based in Battlefield, Missouri, just outside of Springfield. It appears that the company went out of business and then threw all of their client files into the trash. Since they were dealing with credit they had their entire financial profile in the trash. [full story]

It might be time to call a Missouri Shredding Service.

Stay Safe Buys PRIDE

2009-12-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Stay Safe Solutions of Sacramento has purchased the document shredding and recycling businesses PRIDE Industries. Since PRIDE is a non-profit I hope the proceeds go to their charitable mission. The acquisition is part of Stay Safe's aggressive growth strategy.

ACORN Documents Found in a Dumpster

2009-11-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

Personal documents have been found in an ACORN dumpster. It is easy to tell who is at fault because they were nice enough to leave them in red ACORN bags [picture]. If you are a political organization in the cross hairs you would think they wouldn't be so cavalier with personal information. This is only another example that if you leave shredding to low level employees with no supervision you are begging for bad press. The only options are having a manager supervise the entire process or hire a shredding service. It is hard to imaging paying two people to shred at 20 sheets per pass would be cheaper than one person with a shredder that does 35,000 pages at a time.

Data Breach Notification

2009-11-19T06:39:00.000-08:00

It has long been assumed that if businesses would notify consumers of data breaches that the consumer would know to be more vigilant about identity theft. However, a new study by Javelin Strategy and Research found that is not the case. While 19% of the people who were sent notifications suffered identity theft, only 2% attributed it to the breach.

The notifications are obviously not clearly relating their intent. It might also be the some frivolous notifications make them all meaningless. I support that thefts of data should always be notified some data breach notification laws go too far and can only end up in "crying wolf" scenario.

FACTA Red Flag Rule

2009-11-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

The FTC announced that they are postponing the FACTA Red Flag Rule compliance deadline from 11/1/09 to 5/1/10. If this sounds like a broken record it is. The rule was first to go into effect on 11/1/8 but was postponed until 5/1/9 then again until 11/1/9 and now it is postponed once again. I think we are too a point where the rule as written is never going to go into effect. It is time to write one that can.

Shredding Backup Tapes

2009-10-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

Tech Target recently wrote an article on what to do with backup tapes that are no longer needed. They suggested shredding them instead of selling them into a secondary market. The reason is that it is easy to find data on recycled tapes. For a backup tape it could be anything for marketing material to your customers personal information.

f your company is sitting on boxes of tapes or just a couple then a hard drive shredding service can help. They will make your tapes little bits, not just erased.

Morgtage Documents in a Dumpster

2009-10-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

Creative Financial Services of Tampa Bay Inc is the just the latest mortgage broker to dump their customers' personal information in a dumpster. They filled up the dumpster behind Hair Visions Salon where the records were discovered and reported to the news and police. The news went to the offices of Creative Financial Services and found a second dumpster full of mortgage files. They must have filled their own dumpster and then started dumping all over the city. There may be more that were not reported to the authorities.

While there are many situations where being "creative" is good; document security is not one of them. There is no substitute to a paper shredding service turning all of your private information into tiny bits and then pulping it.

Questionable Shredding Practices

2009-10-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

FirstMerit Bank has some questionable security standards for their shredding. They store material waiting to be shredded in bins outside of their branches. The weakness became apparent when three bins were stolen. It is unclear what information was in the bins.

Please store paper in a secure area before it is shredded. If you don't have enough space you should consider more frequent pickups. What every business needs is a chain of custody from document birth until destruction. [news report]

Shredding in Palm Springs

2009-10-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

Skilled Services moved from their Palm Springs offices but apparently was too busy to worry about their clients. They left boxes of private information in the dumpster. Included in the documents were copies of licenses and social security numbers. Everything an identity thief needs in one place.

The documents were discovered by local businesses and reported to the police and the news.

Moving is much more expensive when you add in the cost of a lawyer to defend your company for violating FACTA.

Perils of Not Having a Document Shredding Program

2009-10-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Most organizations fail to shred everything that the law and good practice require because they don't have a document shredding program. The standard practice for many is to leave the shredding to the discretion of a low level employee. The result is much of what needs to be shredded is sent out with the trash. If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time then you know that boxes of files are magnets for everyone walking by.

The latest example is Flagler County. Instead of shredding they left boxes of sensitive information in the trash. When exposed by the local news they said it was only one box. However, the reporter found more sensitive information after they said the problem was solved.

The incremental cost to shred a box with a shredding service is only a couple of bucks. Why would any organization risk their customers, suppliers and reputation for so small a price?

Personal Documents in Homebuilders Dumpster

2009-10-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Lynn Narcisse of Arlington likes to survey his neighborhood every evening. He is glad he did this week when he found piles of folders of personal information in the dumpster behind the sales office for K. Hovnanian Homes. The folders had the buyers personal information from another development by the same builder.

Contrary to the person contacted by the reporter from WFAA, it is a violation of FACTA do dump private information like described into the trash.

You Want the Shredded Paper Back

2009-10-02T12:50:00.001-07:00

Every so often we get asked if they can have the paper back after we have shredded it. There are several reasons why we don't do this.

The primary one is security. We send all of our shredded to a paper mill. At the mill it is turned back into paper pulp and the ink is removed. Think of it as a giant blender with paper and water. It comes out white and is made into new paper. I can't imagine anything more secure. (I would consider burning to be equal but without the environmental benefits.)

The more fun reason is this is what it would look like emptying the truck at their location:

Mobile Shredding Truck Unloading

Charleston Man Charged for Not Shredding

2009-09-25T06:29:00.000-07:00

In a follow up to an earlier story; the Mount Pleasant police have charged Anthony Loius Smalls with illegal dumping. Smalls was hired by American Media Services LLC to dispose of personal information. However, he just left the boxes of personal information in a dumpster behind the Sea Island Shopping Center.

He must have know what he was doing was illegal because he didn't leave the information in his own dumpster. Along with illegal dumping he has violated FACTA and could face additional charges. American Media Services LLC has also violated FACTA by not doing due diligence into who they hired for the job.

It is always better to get a reputable South Carolina shredding service than trust a guy and a pickup.

Shredding Needed in Charleston

2009-09-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs has launched an investigation into why hundreds of private financial data was found in a dumpster behind a Mount Pleasant business complex. The data is from businesses around the country.

It is generally an easy task to find out who put the information in the dumpster. Once discovered they guilty party faces penalties for the Department of Consumer Affairs or lawsuits from the parties who had their information exposed.

The cost of shredding is slow low why risk the fines and the unpleasant interview on the evening news.

Need some Shredding in Albuquerque

2009-09-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

A dumpster behind the Socorro County Housing Authority had a treasure trove of information for a would be identity thief. An unidentified man discovered hundreds of files of the private financial data for previous tenants. When asked about the problem the Mary Ann Chavez, the director said "There were more than 100? Oh my God, yeah, see, because we just cleaned out some of our files. "I know we had a volunteer come in and help us."

So to protect the private information in their care they used an untrained volunteer. Why not do it right and get in an Albuquerque shredding service? Instead they get some bad pr on the local news.

Albert Gonzalez Pleads Guilty

2009-09-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Albert Gonzalez is the 28 year old Miami man behind the largest identity theft ring ever detected. If you recall he stole 225 million credit card numbers from several companies.

He plead guilty to 19 felony counts and is expected to spend 20 years in jail. [full story]

Student Records Found in New York Dumpster

2009-09-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

The School for the Physical City moved locations this summer but it appears they didn't take their records with them. Instead they left them on the curb for the world to look through. The school is for 9th-12th graders and was located on East 25th Street. They have since moved to West 14th Street and their old location was taken over by Baruch College.

The records on the curb included 15 boxes and overflowing dumpsters with students vital information including psychological reports and birth certificates.

If you are moving and don't want to get in the Post then look for a New York shredding service.

San Mateao Title Work in the Trash

2009-09-02T08:58:00.001-07:00

It will be years before all the bad mortgages are worked out of the realty market. It may take even longer before all the paperwork from the bad mortgage companies gets destroyed.

Another cache was found in San Mateo. This one had had hundreds of mortgage files for several companies now out of business. The files are now in the posession of the San Mateo Sheriff's office. It doesn't appear there was any foul play but it just highlights the dangers of how many people have our personal information. [full story]

The bankruptcy court should mandate that all the files get properly stored or shredded as part of any settlement.

Personal Records in New York Dumpster

2009-08-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

A rusty Ford pickup stopped at a dumpster behind an apartment. A man got out and dumped nine boxes of personal information from a closed business. The business was Fasco Machine Company. The files included payroll and banking records for each employee, including hundreds of social security numbers. While the business is closed the records are still covered by current privacy laws. There is a good chance the man know this because he didn't leave them in his own trash but tried to sneak them into an apartment dumpster. Unfortunately for the man a resident snapped a picture of his truck. Hope he gets a good haircut for is impending TV interview.

HIPAA Violations in Greensboro

2009-08-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

A dumpster filled with stacks of medical files have been uncovered in Greensboro, North Carolina. The files were from Prompt Med. The president said the files were supposed to have been moved from one warehouse to another one. He speculated that the company had failed to do the job correctly. The problem for Promt Med is that they are still liable for the HIPAA violations from this incident.

The files were uncovered by Gary Mcadoo who took them to the local news station. [full story]

UPDATE 9/25/09

More files have been found scattered across the neighborhood around Greensboro.

Shredding Needed in Denver

2009-08-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

Another real estate broker goes out of business. Another dumpster gets filled with personal information. This time it is in Denver. If you bought, financed or re-financed a home you can ask for your files back after four years according to Real estate broker and mortgage broker Jude Sandvall. This will prevent them from ever ending up in a dumpster. You should also ask for them if the business goes bankrupt. [full story]

One Man Identity Theft Machine

2009-08-18T06:41:00.001-07:00

Albert Gonzalez of Miami has broken his own record for identity theft. He has been charged with stealing the credit cards of 130 million people. This beats his prior record of only 140 million. The irony is that he was employed by the secret service to track down hackers.

Some of his targets have been Heartland, Dave and Busters, 7-11, T.J. Maxx, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and OfficeMax.

He is awaiting a trial for hacking with a possible life sentence and the new charges could add another 20 years.

The Expected End

2009-08-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

Remember back in February when I reported about Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul Lanteigne's plan to save money by using inmates to shred. The Concord State Prison was way ahead of him. And as is easy to predict it didn't end well. An inmate was found with the personal information for all the employees for the department. The information included everything needed to commit identity theft at the least. They are now scrambling to find a shredding service to do the job right.

Still think it is a good plan Sheriff Lanteigne?

Tax Documents in San Antonio Dumpster

2009-08-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

Century Income Tax had old tax documents they didn't want. Instead of shredding it themselves or saving money and hiring a shredding service they decided to throw them in a dumpster. It is clear they knew what they were doing was wrong because they used a dumpster behind Bradley Middle School and not the one at their office. The police are investigating the files. With an aggressive state attorney general like Greg Abbott they will be wishing they had not tried to skirt their responsibilities to protect their customers personal information. Full news report.

Personal Documents in Dumpster Behind Church

2009-07-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Pastor Franklin Clark made a surprising discovery when he went out to the dumpster behind his church. Inside were boxes and boxes of customer files from a home improvement company. The files included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, bank accounts and credit histories.

It appears that the company went out of business and left them in their old office space. The owner of the building says he took them to be shredded at a shredding event. The story is very suspicious as everything at a shredding event is done at the location in front of the person. There is also a limit on free shredding and he would have been over it. He must of known he was doing the wrong thing because he took the time to dump them at the church.

This is just another example of a business going bankrupt and the customers getting left out to dry by the property owner. The good news is officials are starting to take notice. A bill has been introduced in California to make it easier to shred information from companies that go out of business.

Medical Files in Dumpster in Utah

2009-07-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Daron Breinholt was taking out the trash at his job at a shoe distribution center in Salt Lake City when he found boxes and boxes of medical records. They records belonged to Mountain Medical Center. Dr. Randall Malin said that he did not throw the records away.

Apparently Dr Malin is forgetting that he is responsible for the safe keeping of his patients records as part of HIPAA. Regardless of who dumped the records, he can be fined. But my guess is he was just to cheap to call a shredding service.

Full story from KUTV.

Social Security Numbers Solved

2009-07-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross say they have uncovered the algorithm that the Social Security Administration uses to assign numbers. They said they could get enough information publicly available on social networking sites with less than 100 attempts. This is very small when using a computer to test them.

One more reason we can't trust SSNs with a unique identifier for every person.

Here is the paper.

Student Records Found in Dumpster

2009-06-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

Student records for Special Education at Lake View High School of Chicago were found in the alley. The records were discovered by Art Kuesel in they alley. The files were in clearly labled boxes and contained files with names, photos, home addresses, Social Security numbers, SAT scores and the results of psychological tests.

Mr. Kuesel reported the problems to police who took possession of the boxes. [pictures]

Medical Files in Dumpster in Oklahoma

2009-06-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Dr. David Cavallaro's, a podiatrist in Oklahoma City needs to find a shredding service. His first plan of leaving them in the dumpster didn't work out so well when they were discovered and reported to NewsChannel 4.

The story says there is no law in Oklahoma that prevents a doctor from exposing their patients to identity theft. The failed to recognized that HIPAA is a federal law that protects patient privacy and requires proper disposal.

Employees Fail to Shred Student Records

2009-05-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

We have long said that it is foolish to buy a shredder and expect employees to assign themselves the extra work of shredding. They will inevitably just save their time and put important in the trash.

The latest organization caught doing this is The Warren County Virtual school in Lebanon, Kentucky. They left all their students names, addresses and social security number in the trash. They were found by a contractor and reported to the news and police.

If you don't make document destruction easy with a shredding service you are just waiting to be the next ones in the news.

IRS and Shredding

2009-05-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

We all know to shred our tax information after it is no longer needed. It contains sensitive information that can lead to identity theft if found in your trash. The IRS doesn't seem to understand the threat.

A recent investigation of more than a dozen IRS document disposal facilities found that -- at each location -- old taxpayer records were being tossed out in regular waste containers and dumpsters.

Read the inspectors report.

Walgreens Looks to Settle Dumping

2009-05-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Walgreens announced "We reached an agreement" in the case of leaving personal information in the trash. The attorney general countered with, "There was never an agreement that was reached."

Walgreens' rival CVS agreed to pay $2.25 million for the same violations of patient privacy in January. The attorney general is now waiting for the federal agencies involved to reach an agreement.

At the very least Walgreens has learned the cost of hoping your employees shred is at least $2.25 million.

Shredding Movie Scripts

2009-05-13T09:28:00.001-07:00

It is common to find stories about personal information that a business did not shred. The other thing that doesn't always get shredded is company confidential information. The first step for any corporate espionage is to search the company and employees trash. This never makes the news for obvious reasons.

Today we have a story of a someone throwing confidential company information in the trash before it is shredded. Two scrips for the next 'Twilight' movie have been discovered in St Louis. If you are not familiar with this movie just ask the nearest pre-teen girl. Obviously this is information the producer would not like widely released. Full Story.

North Carolina Shredding Firms Merging

2009-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

There is one fewer shredders in North Carolina. American Security Shredding has acquired Carolina Shredding. Both companies were based in Asheville, North Carolina. The acquisition "nearly doubles" the shredding capacity of American Security Shredding.

Patient Records Blowing Down the Road

2009-05-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Richmond Dermatology and Laser Specialists left patient records in their dumpster instead of shredding them per HIPAA requirements. The part came when a gust of wind sent the documents flying down the street.

The interesting part is the office failed to shred all their paperwork but instead of hiring a shredding service to make sure it didn't happen again they are still doing it in-house.

Here are the pictures of blowing medical files.

Identity Theft Tied to Hotel Dumpster

2009-05-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

Nashville police have tied an identity theft ring to a hotel dumpster. William Frelix would dumpster dive at the hotel for information. New credit cards would be ordered for the stolen identities. Frelix then sold items purchased on the cards for cash. Items ordered included $3,000 in lumber and a new car engine and transmission. [story]

Too many businesses make it too easy to steal information.

Shredding Needed Oregon

2009-05-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Brooke Auto Insurance Company of Gresham Oregon, needs to find a shredding service. Their plan was to just leave their customers' private information in the trash. The problem is someone noticed the boxes of files. He then called the local news and the police.

They may have saved a couple of bucks on shredding but now they have a PR nightmare and possible criminal charges. Not a good decision. Next time do it right and use a document shredding service.

Not Shredding in Virginia

2009-04-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

The analogy of old records being like toxic waste is was a great one in Williamsburg, VA. Old personnel files were discovered in the trash. The building owner said they belonged to the tenant, Warrior Xpress. Warrior Xpress was purchased by Celadon Trucking. Celadon said they never took possession of the files. The people left high and dry were those whose information was exposed. [story of the files]

I bet if there was an aggressive district attorney they would be able to find the legal owners.

Dumpster Diving Leads to Identity Theft

2009-04-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

We have often warned that information left in the dumpster can lead to identity theft. In Memphis they have arrested Ashley Johnson for just that.

It is alleged that Ashley was looking for boxes to move when she found old job applications from McAlister's Restaurant. She used the information to open fraudulent credit accounts at stores around the city. To get the cash she would return merchandise purchased with the fraudulent accounts and put the balance on gift cards. The gift cards were then sold for cash.

Never put your social security number on a job application. They only need it once you are hired. And if you accept job applications please do the right thing and shred them.

They Aren't Shredding In Wichita

2009-04-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

"We don't have to comply with FACTA," is the policy of Key Management in Wichita. Or at least that is what their actions indicate.

Key Management is the company that operates Madison Park Apartments. They recently threw all of their past rental applications into the dumpster. This is a violation of the FACTA Disposal Rule. When asked about it an employee said the documents didn't belong to the company. A strange answer when their letterhead was throughout the boxes.

With the increased enforcement of privacy laws, Key Management might want to be less cavalier about their customers' information.

Ohio Bureau Of Motor Vehicles

2009-04-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

After employees of the Ohio Ohio Bureau Of Motor Vehicles (BMV) had an identity theft ring running in their offices the local news wanted to know if they had improved security. In short, no. They looked in the dumpsters of 24 offices and found 10 had personal information including names, addresses, and social security numbers.

The only solution to prevent employees from throwing personal information into the trash is to make shredding as easy as throwing away. They is with convenient shredding bins a and a service that can guarantee the shredding is done.

Not Shredding in Huntsville

2009-03-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

One Huntsville company has hit a new low for how they treat their employees. Hancock Fabrics didn't think their current and past employees were worth the small cost of a shredding service to protect them from identity theft. When they were cleaning out old employee records they simply dumped them in the trash. The personal documents were found and reported to the local news.

At least some documents tossed out are the result of a company going out of business. Hancock Fabrics must now tell their current employees they have no value to the company.

Montgomery Shredding Service

2009-03-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

3GS LLC has announced the acquisition of Databank Business Services for undisclosed terms. Databank offered shredding services to the Montgomery and Birmingham Areas. The company will now operate under the Safe Shredding brand.

Not Shredding In Sarasota

2009-03-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

Westaff in Sarasota recently went out of business. Unfortunately, all their client files ended up in a dumpster. According to Anita Rence who found the documents they included "everything from W-2's, W-4's, copies of driver's licenses, social security numbers...just everything." Video.

Another case where a paper shredding service could have prevented a bad situation.

Shreveport Shredding

2009-03-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Dr. Frederick Knight had several boxes full of patient records. He must know they need to be destroyed securely because he took them from his office and left them in a dumpster behind Toney's Eastridge Grocery. They were found by they manager who notified the police and the media.

The doctor admitted to doing this in the past and now faces illegal dumping charges and that is before HHS investigates HIPAA violations. He might want to clean up his act because the updates to HIPAA in the Stimulus Bill make the fines $10,000 per patient for willful disregard of security like this one.

Rhode Island Shredding Law

2009-03-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

To help curb identity theft caused by dumpster divers, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch is proposing a law that would require businesses to shred personal documents. Currently the law of the state only protects electronic data.

Perhaps he is eyeing all the money that Texas is getting from business who do not shred.

Personal Documents in Trash

2009-03-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

A customer at Homestead Studio Suites in Indianapolis was throwing out some trash at the hotel when he noticed a curious stack of documents. On closer inspection he found out they were copies of receipts. The receipts had the name, address, complete credit card number and signatures. Enough information to commit credit card theft. [video]

Perhaps it is time for the hotel to find an Indianapolis shredding service.

Real Estate Shredding in Draper

2009-03-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Mindy VanCampen was taking the trash out from her Draper office when she made a shocking discovery. The neighboring office of North Star Realty had dumped personal information from its customers into the dumpster. They were ever too lazy to throw them in the dumpster and left them laying about the area.

As a prior victim of identity theft, Ms VanCampen was outraged. She notified the media and the police of the situation. Later an employ of the company picked up the files and took them back into the office.

---------------- Update ---------------------

The Utah Division of Real Estate acknowledged that dumping client records in the trash violates Utah law. They said they handled four similar cases recently. One of the companies was fined $20,000. They said they are investigating this case and promise a hefty fine if wrongdoing is determined.

More Mortgage Application in the Trash

2009-02-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

The latest mortgage company that has been caught dumping their records is Seaview Financial of Corona del Mar. During a move a number of boxes of past customers ended up in a recycling bin at a school. But according to the owner, Paul H. Reed, it isn't his fault. The reasoning is that he hired someone to "burn" the papers so it is their fault. What he doesn't realize is FACTA requires due diligence when selecting a destruction company. Not to mention that burning is against the city ordinances. I also don't understand why someone who choose the most environmentally damaging solution would then turn around and use a recycling bin.

Shredding without the Security

2009-02-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

The dumbest decision I have heard of in a long time goes to Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul Lanteigne. He spent $40,000 on an industrial shredder so convicted criminals could do shredding. The city is now going to give the most sensitive information of their citizens to the people who have proven they are the least trust worthy.

He said it was to save money but after they purchase the shredder, pay for instillation, pay for upkeep, pay for the power, pay the inmates, pay the guards and pay for disposal of the shreds it will be lucky to break even.

It just doesn't make sense to reduce security and if you aren't even going to decrease costs. Don't believe anyone is really this foolish? Here is the story.

Shredding Tax Returns in Boston

2009-02-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

Raymond P. Letourneau runs an accounting firm in Norwood, Massachusetts. After years of preparing tax returns he was left with boxes of old returns that were no longer needed. These thousands of tax returns contain the personal information of all of his clients. So when faced with the decision on what to do with the boxes he chose to dump them behind a Family Dollar store.

The documents were discovered by store employees and the police were notified. Mr Letourneau has been fined $2,500 for illegal dumping. Not only did he expose his clients to identity theft but he spent much more the just getting the shredding done.

The Cost of Not Shredding

2009-02-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

How much does not shredding cost? For CVS Pharmacy it was two and a quarter million dollars. The pharmacy was caught throwing patient data into their dumpsters. The documents were discovered by the local news and reported the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Throwing patient data in the trash is a violation of HIPAA. The payment will go to the HHS along with the implementation of a "robust corrective plan."

With 700 billion dollar spending packages that might seem small but most businesses don't have an extra 2 million sitting around to pay out settlements. Now weigh that against the cost of a shredding service that will come by monthly for $50. That is 44,500 visits or 3,708 years of shredding done for you.

So to recap the last few hundred posts; your shredding options are secure and cheap: a shredding service, less secure and more expensive: buy a shredder and hope, not secure and most expensive: do nothing.

Shred the Love

2009-02-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

Single in Minneapolis were not left out this Valentines day. They didn't get roses but they did get to have some fun with shredders. The Midtown Global Market sponsored a "Shred the Love" event. People were invited to bring in gifts and cards from past loves and run them through the shredder.

There is nothing like a bit of shredding to make a day better.

Not Shredding in Denver

2009-02-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

The Anti-Gym was recently shuttered by the IRS for a failure to pay payroll taxes but it looks like the former clients of the gym were the real losers. That is because detailed and personal information was left in the dumpster behind the gym. This included the standard fodder for an identity thief. It also had some very personal information that clients had shared with their trainers. The information was stored in client files. The owner said he was not responsible for the documents ending in the dumpster because he was locked out by the IRS but witnesses disagree. [full story]

I hope that bankruptcy courts allow businesses to spend a little on a shredding service to protect the personal information a business maintains.

Not Shredding in Volusia County

2009-02-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Through an "unfortunate oversight" Southern Satellite decided to dump their customers information into the dumpster. This included names, addresses, social security numbers and even credit card numbers. The information was discovered and reported to Channel 9 and the police. Southern Satellite installs dishes in the area. Perhaps it is time to find a Florida shredding service

See the video.

FTC Complaint on Shredding

2009-01-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

The FTC has filed a complaint against First Interstate Mortgage Corporation ( FIM ) and Nevada One Corporation ( Nevada One ) for failure to shred. The companies owned by one group contracted with customers to maintain personal information under FACTA. However, 40 boxes of personal information covered under the contract and FACTA were later found in a dumpster. The case now moves to U.S. the District Court for Nevada.

It appears that you can add the FTC to the local media, and the Texas AG as people out to get companies who fail to protect their customers with document destruction programs.

Read the PR

Houston Shredding

2009-01-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

I am sure when you are in an ambulance the last thing you are worried about is your personal information. However, people who got a ride from Express EMS Services in Houston Texas are wondering about it today. A self proclaimed dumpster diver found all the personal information an identity thief would need. He notified KTRK who came out and took some great video of the dumpster.

Any company in Texas that risks throwing personal information in the trash when you know the AG is targeting the practice is not very bright. Stay tuned for the post about the fine they will be paying.

If you are in Houston and don't want to pay big fines to the state then stop by Shred Nations to start your shredding.