Every year we make the same promises to ourselves on January 1st. Whether it’s losing weight, saving more money, or being more adventurous, these resolutions are a huge New Year’s tradition.
Making them is the easy part. The follow through is a little harder for most of us, especially if your New Year goals aren’t quite as obvious.
After Equifax revealed 100,000 Canadians were affected by its cyber security breach back in September, many concerned individuals have made security their top priority in the New Year. When it comes to sensitive information and making sure that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, finding a solution that allows you to destroy or permanently dispose of said information relies on finding a reliable document destruction service.
Professional document shredding is a sure-fire way to destroy valuable information, leaving it in a state where there’s no possible way anyone could retrieve the data and use it. But it goes beyond appropriate shredding techniques that leave your paper and electronic data files unreadable. When you’re looking for a professional paper shredding company, you must ensure they’re a NAID-certified service that protects your destroyed data until it’s recycled permanently.
When it comes to shredding Toronto and other Canadian cities around the GTA have their choice of companies, but only a few services can provide the NAID-certification you need to meet your resolution. Standing for National Association for Information Destruction, this accreditation ensures the company’s document destruction follows international security standards.
That means their equipment, staff, and techniques will permanently destroy any personal information recorded on paper or electronic devices. Sometimes, finding a service that offers this well-being is as easy as typing shredding services Toronto into Google. But don’t forget to do a background check on any company you find through the search engine.
This is just the first step to achieving your New Year’s Resolution of security this year. With more of your life unfolding online, you need to make a security plan for your laptops and smartphones. A security plan may seem elaborate, but simply setting up a password for these devices is a great first step towards cyber security.
Don’t look towards Equifax for pointers when setting your PIN. In the investigation following their breach, it was revealed the credit monitoring company used ‘admin’ for both their login and password—both a rookie mistake. You also shouldn’t rely on Apple’s new Face ID as your only form of defence, as it’s not a secure way to lock your phone.
You may know enough not to use ‘admin’ or a birthday as your password, but the markings of a strong password may be a lot harder to identify. Use this guide to help design a password that will keep you safe. Together, with a professional shredding company, you’ll be able to tick off security from your New Year’s Resolutions.
