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…and how Restore Datashred can fix them.
This year, no one gets their hands on data that’s in your domain, OK? As we all ease into 2025, let’s make sure your confidential information remains watertight.
Here are five mistakes to avoid!
1. Operating in ignorance
Time to go back to the beginning. Perhaps you are a start-up; maybe you are new to your team and department; or it could be you have been hired to bring a challenged organisation back on track – no matter the reason for an apparent lack of adequate data protection measures where you work, don’t let a lack of information be one of them.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has a clearly presented website containing all the legalities as well as useful tools to help inform and educate, so that your business and your teams understand why protecting identifiable and confidential data is important – reputation, fines, job losses – and how they can do it correctly – educate through newsletters, group email, mini-training sessions – and so on.
2. Allowing gaps in the process
a lack of knowledge around, and a lack of creation of, a secure retention and disposal policy for all information that, by law, must be kept by your business.
a lack of knowledge and education around the importance of data protection, and what happens if there are breaches in your company’s confidentiality.
using an office shredder to dispose of paper documents on an ad hoc basis by various employees.
a lack of document lifecycle tracking.
irregular collections that are not sufficient for your needs by an external data shredding company.
no secure disposal streams for sensitive information…
If, by process, we’re talking about systems, then all the parts of your records management should work together with one purpose: to keep the information that comes into your business, that is handled by your business, and created by your business, private throughout the time it is in your possession.
3. Using uncertified providers
You need to have full trust when handing over part of your company’s reputation to an outside business, don’t you? The ICO recommends using an external, professional, data shredding service to dispose securely of all your obsolete data, and for complete peace of mind. How is this guaranteed other than through hard-won and highly regarded professional and industry accreditation bodies? If the external supplier who handles your secret, private, confidential information is not certified, that should be a hard avoid.
4. Putting a target on your data
Let’s talk about fraud. Most of us will have experienced phishing email and scam phone-calls in person and we sincerely hope you were not drawn in by them. But did you know that at least 100,000 people in the UK in 2023 were defrauded through paper theft? That’s right, confidential data was either stolen from a bin, or a desk or an in-tray, and used to steal an identity. There’s something unsettling about a thief taking your identity. An identity is you and it’s not a good feeling, neither are the repercussions a pleasant experience. There’s a simple way round this: use a system of lockable recycling bins for obsolete paper documents.
5. Failing planet and people
Recycling is such an easy win for people, planet and profit, if you’re using a ‘system’ that does not guarantee 100% recycling for paper shreds as the minimum, are you doing all you can? Really? A data shredding business like Restore Datashred is a pipeline for recycling manufacturers, a major contributor to the paper recycling industry and to be encouraged at every turn as a key to becoming a part of the circular economy. Not only that, but with the UK’s introduction in March of a nationwide Simpler Recycling policy, that aims to broaden and simplify recycling by ensuring we all do more of it, basically, it will be a no brainer to be contributing via secure shredding, too!
We can fix it
Paper, digital media, textiles and any items that hold intellectual property value to you can catch you out either through fraud or lack of compliance with data protection and materials disposal regulations. Restore Datashred is the business to use for guarantees of compliance, security and sustainability that help you make the grade. We can shred paper documents and digital media on site so you witness their demise, or off site at one of our state-of-the-art destruction centres. Check out our stats.
170-strong modern fleet of collection vehicles
Increasingly run on alternative fuels, including high-speed mobile shredding trucks that work with you, at your site.
10 high-security destruction centres
In all the right places across the UK so we are never far from where you are. They are all password entry protected, guarded by 24-hour CCTV, and run a fleet of GPS-tracked vans and security-checked operatives as the backbone of our security set-up.
ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001…
And ISO 45001, Cyber Essentials Plus, BSIA, environment agencies in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are a selection of accreditations and industry memberships we have worked hard to achieve and maintain so you can trust us to meet your organisation’s compliance needs. We always cap off a shred transaction with a promptly despatched certificate of destruction for your records.
100% – that’s our guarantee for the quantity of paper shreds
That we send to a trusted UK recycler to use in making new paper products, to give them another go round. We also promise never to send your shredded digital media, textiles and other confidential materials to landfill.
Don’t get caught out!
Give one of our enthusiastic, knowledgeable customer service team a call on 08003764422 to get your data protection and disposal ship shape!
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