It is quite natural for many of us to turn a blind eye to the problems that have not impacted us, yet. You may not hesitate to narrate a story about a neighbor, a friend, or a relative who fell prey to a credit card scam, a robbery, a ransomware attack, or a social media account hack. But, how often do you pay heed to the real issues, or think about how you can prevent them from happening to you? As hard hitting as it sounds, you could be the next victim of any of these scams. Identity theft is a real problem, and in 2018, it affected 14.4 million Americans, and most of these incidents resulted from credit card fraud or Social Security Numbers (SSNs) falling in the wrong hands.

Protect Yourself and Your Business 

From physical theft and digital hacks, to phone scamming and social media misuse, fraudsters keep evolving methodologies to lay their hands on your confidential or personal information. At Crown Information Management, we understand the implications of identity theft, and know all too well about its far reaching consequences for the affected individuals. Our document destruction experts ask some pertinent questions to help you identify the work habits that could be putting your identity at risk. 

Are Certain Work Habits Making You More Vulnerable to Identity Theft?

Records that hold your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) are a liability if they fall into the hands of petty thieves, scammers, or cybercriminals. This includes personal documents, such as birth or marriage certificate, passport and driver’s licenses. It also includes records related to your education, employment and health, property records and utility bills, and financial information related to your bank accounts, mortgages or credit cards. Some types of business records may also contain your PII. 

Whether it is your home office, or your workspace, are you taking the necessary steps against potential intrusions in your digital or physical records? Do some of these precautionary measures resonate with your work habits?

• Do you follow a clean desk approach and ensure that you don’t leave confidential documents unattended at any point? 
• Do you meticulously save, store or destroy important documents securely?
• Are you careful about not tossing papers or files into garbage or recycle bins as-is? 
• Do you use dedicated record disposal areas, and shred all your paper records, as well as redundant digital media, such as hard drives, thumb drives, CDs, DVDs etc.? 
• Do you collect your documents from the printer immediately after taking a printout?
• Are you vigilant about intruders or unauthorized personnel tailgating into your physical workspace?
• Do you keep your desktops, laptops and other devices locked when you are away from your desk? 
• Do you use strong passwords and change them periodically? Do you ensure usage of separate passwords across multiple accounts and devices?
• Are you managing your online presence carefully by using safe browsing techniques? Are you wary of phishing attacks, and managing confidential business information securely on public Wi-Fi?
• Do you regularly create backups for your digital records in order to protect your data and information against ransomware attacks?
• Do you run security patches or application updates immediately, instead of deferring them?

If you answered in the negative to any of these questions, it is time to consider adopting that practice and make it a habit in order to strengthen your safeguards against identity theft.

When it comes to safe storage and secure disposal of your paper and digital records, consider partnering with a SOC1 Level 2 Report, NAID AAA and PCI Certified company, such as Crown Information Management. In addition to comprehensive records management and storage, and routine on-site destruction services, we also offer hard drive destruction ,media destruction and product destruction services. Our experienced and certified professionals will create systematic plans for secure management and destruction of all your confidential physical and digital information.

Want to maximize your protection against identity theft at home and at work? Speak to the experts at Crown Information Management today. Call us toll-free at 800-979-9545, or contact us online for a free estimate.