BLOG

Today, implementing stunning innovations in your computer and network security means that would-be hackers are forced to prey upon smaller, less secure organizations. It’s definitely true that the more you invest in electronic security, the more outside and third party infiltrators will have a hard time accessing your information. In today’s digital age, it makes sense to leave no entryway unlocked in the global fight against identity theft.

But corporations, small businesses, government organizations, and not-for-profits alike should always recall Alexander Pope’s famous adage, “To err is human,” when mapping out their security protocols. No matter how sophisticated your firewalls, passwords, encryptions, and other technological safeguards become, there’s always room for that one unavoidable and age-old calamity: simple human error.

According to recent studies by Vice President of Experian, Michael Bruemmer, over eighty percent of data breach incidents at his company were due to “employee negligence.” That means mishandled log-in information, idle or vacant computers, misplaced laptops, accidental emails, and other employee fumbles. Karen Barney of the Identity Theft Resource Centre (ITRC) confirmed this glaring statistic, similarly attributing over eighty percent of breaches recorded with the ITRC to employee negligence or accidents. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse also claimed that most — again, over eighty percent — of their security problems occurred due to errors made by people, not technology.

It’s a basic lesson in psychology and training. People forget. They forget to encrypt CDs and DVDs. They fail to double-check email addresses and send out sensitive information to mass mailing lists. They miss the bcc: function when firing off emails. They forget to lock office and vehicle doors. Items fall from paper folders and from the backs of trucks. And they are often more likely to make a critical error when their corporate environment doesn’t provide training, education, and incentive to value quality over quantity, thoroughness over speed, and safety over productivity.

Intelligent thieves know that often the most effective way to access an organization is through the weakest link in the chain. And sometimes, all these pilferers need to do is be patient and wait for a mistake. There are a number of strategies to employ to minimize the occurrence of human error in your operations—limiting access to information to only select personnel; enforcing zero tolerance for making mistakes; and providing more comprehensive training among them. But one way to combat recurrent and devastating human error is to hand over the destruction of sensitive information to an organization that specializes in its removal.

In other words, that’s how our services can help mitigate even the unavoidably human errors that we’ll never truly be rid of. We can supply you with secure disposal bins that only our trained personnel remove. You can watch your paper-based and electronic materials be deposited directly into our mobile crushers and shredders—which then head directly to recycling facilities, leaving no room for error and no way for thieves to gain access.

It’s a foolproof system for a world full of … well, human beings …