November 12, 2015
Celebrate Document Security: On Thanksgiving... and Good Riddance Day
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday when family and friends usually gather for a large meal. By its very nature of abundance, the holiday often becomes a day of reflection about all of the good things in people’s lives... and all of the things they should get rid of too.
The timing couldn’t be better for the 9th annual Good Riddance Day contest and event.
Good Riddance Day is part of the official Times Square lineup of special events leading up to New Year’s Eve. As an official partner, we will once again park one of our mobile shredding trucks nearby so participants can bring paper documents that are no longer needed – and in fact, best forgotten – for secure and reliable destruction.
The Good Riddance Day contest invites everyone to submit a picture – and explanation – of the item they want to say good riddance to this year. The grand prize is a trip to the Good Riddance Day event and New Year's Eve in Times Square.
Starting the new year by purging forgettable memories – and all confidential information – is not just commendable, it’s critical. Learn why:
Identity Theft: Identity theft is the most common consumer complaint in the U.S. The Identity Theft Resource Center showed that at the end of October 175,638,537 confidential records had been exposed in 629 reported data breaches in 2015. The category with the largest number of records exposed was medical/healthcare (68.3%). The Medical Identity Fraud Alliance (MIFA) estimated that last year 2.3 million Americans were victimized, up almost 22% over 2013.
Costs: Javelin’s 2015 Identity Fraud Study showed that $16 billion was stolen from 12.7 million U.S. consumers in 2014. In the workplace the average cost paid for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive information was $154, according to the 2015 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis.
The Bad Guys: Information thieves are constantly developing new scams to trick individuals and organizations into handing over confidential information. According to a fortune.com story, the newest scam is ‘impersonation theft’. Similar to phishing, someone claiming to be from the IRS calls to say a person owes taxes or penalties – and must pay up.
It's the Law: Privacy laws dictate that workplaces protect confidential information from creation to disposal. Larger organizations, in general, are doing a better job of document security, according to the 2015 State of the Industry Information Security report – 70% of c-suite executives securely store documents in locked consoles prior to secure shredding while only 40% of small business owners do. Not sure what to shred? Implement a Shred-all Policy so all documents are destroyed when they are no longer needed.
Sustainability: Good Riddance Day gives participants the opportunity to symbolically destroy the negatives in their lives – in a sustainable way. All shredded material will be sent to nearby recycling plants. For every ton of paper that is shredded and recycled, 17 trees, 4,100 kilowatts of energy and 3.5 cubic yards of landfill space will be saved.
For a chance to ‘Shred-it and forget it’ at the 9th Annual Good Riddance Day Event, enter the Good Riddance Day Contest.
