What do you do when you have to throw away paper documents, either at home or in the office? Do you just bundle them up in a plastic bag and send them off to the landfill? If so, you are opening yourself or your company up to data theft and/or identity theft.
The easiest solution to this problem is to purchase (and use) a paper shredder. Once run through the shredder, your documents are reduced to strips or particles of paper that are much harder to either read or reconstruct.
Before you just run out to your local stationery store and buy a shredder, you should consider one main thing – what type of data are you protecting? Shredders are classified into 6 different “levels” of security and your data type will determine what type of shredder you should purchase.
Simple home documents that do not contain personal information can be shredder with a “level 1” or “level 2” shredder. These shredders cut paper into long strips. (With a lot of time and the patience of a master jigsaw puzzle solver, it is possible to reconstruct the original documents.)
Confidential documents and/or ones that contain personal/financial information can be shredded with a “level 3” or “level 4” shredder. These (cross-cut) shredders cut the original papers into small rectangles that can approach the size of pieces of confetti. These are a good choice for most businesses and for careful home users.
Top-secret and/or government documents can be shredded with “level 5” or “level 6” shredders. The confetti they produce is much smaller in size and therefore even harder to reconstruct.
As with most things, extra safety will cost more money. In essence, the higher level shredder you choose, the more you can expect to pay for it.
