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While we all can agree that with knowledge comes power, we also must keep in mind the task of protecting such vital information. This concept is extremely important in the corporate world, where information is passed through many hands and takes different physical forms. Paper documents and electronic storage devices are two major sources of vital information in any given place of work. There is a responsibility to safeguard and protect such sensitive information while preventing it from ever falling into the wrong hands. The bottom line is that tons of useless information does not amount to power, while the tiniest piece of secret information can have massive repercussions.

Information leaks have been in the news as of late, and we are all highly aware of the potential damage they can cause. Corporations and individuals alike have been known to be victims of such leaks, and the methods in which vital information is obtained can vary greatly. When money is at stake, people will go to great lengths to better their own situation. A big time business tycoon was recently sentenced to a jail term for ‘giving out’ insider information regarding his own company. The information, it appears, had aided the recipient in being able to invest at an opportune time to reap huge profits. This was taken as a biased favor that the proprietor had conferred and therefore, a jury ruled this as a punishable act. A prime example of secret information falling into the wrong hands with massive fallouts.

Most times however, information leaks take place unknowingly, with the recipient illegally acquiring it off the original owner. Security measures generally prevent complete strangers from walking into your office, picking up a hard drive and walking out, though stranger things have happened. It is at the point when your information leaves your facility that you no longer have control over it. This is particularly important to companies that utilize paper documents in their daily activities. When documents are no longer required, they get thrown out and disposed of. Though they may be out of sight, they may not be out of mind.

We all like to think that employees and co-workers are not the ones responsible for leaking out sensitive information. It can be nearly impossible to prevent someone from going rogue, but you can take absolute control of what happens to paper documents and electronic storage devices after they are no longer needed. Contact a document destruction company with the ability to completely destroy your documents on site, and you have eliminated a major source of potential information leaks. Paper documents can be surprisingly durable and can sit around for years waiting to accidentally be discovered. This is why they must be destroyed on-site, to eliminate the chance they could ever cause harm.

It is important to ensure that electronic storage devices are also properly destroyed and disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner. Erasing the data off a hard drive doesn’t mean that it cannot be recovered by expert computer hackers. Unfortunately there are millions of ways in which information can be leaked, which is why it’s paramount to do everything possible to protect sensitive information at work. Though we now live in a very digital world, the paperless office is still very far away. Until then, paper based documents must be effectively dealt with.