Identity fraud is the fastest growing crime in America, and is the #1 concern among consumers. Identity theft occurs when a criminal appropriates another person's private information and opens fraudulent credit accounts, ruining the victim financially.
According to 2 studies done in July 2003 (Gartner Research and Harris Interactive), approximately 7 million people became victims of identity theft in the prior 12 months. That equals 19,178 per day, 799 per hour, 13.3 per minute. Victims now spend an average of 600 hours recovering from this crime, often over a period of years.
It's hard to believe, but some people make a good living by dumpster diving. They dig through public dumpsters and private trashcans looking for information AND IT'S COMPLETELY LEGAL! According to the U.S. Supreme Court (California v. Greenwood, decided May 16, 1988), all rights of privacy and ownership are forfeited by your disposal in the trash. The Court also said: "It is common knowledge that garbage is readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public."
Your best defense against identity fraud is by shredding documents with personal information before disposing of them. There are two very important things to be aware of before purchasing a shredder. There are strip-cut shredders and cross cut shredders. These two styles of paper shredders are fundamentally different.
Strip cut shredders cut paper into thin ¼-inch or 1/8-inch strips of paper. This form of shredding was initially all that was available to the public just over a decade ago. Although documents are shredded, it was discovered that these strips of paper could be easily re-assembled by a determined thief. In 1979, when the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was overrun by militants, Persian basket weavers were used to re-assemble strip cut documents containing sensitive information.
Cross cut shredders, sometimes referred to as confetti or particle cut shredders, cut paper from more than one angle. This makes it more difficult to re-assemble documents. It is now recommended that bills, receipts and other documents containing sensitive information be cross cut. One thing that many people do not realize is that cross cut shredders are available in different security levels, depending on the size of the cross-cut particles.
These security levels vary from 1, which is a 3/8-inch strip cut document and the least secure, to 6, which is almost dust and is used for high-security shredding. These security levels are based on the DIN 32757 shredding standard, which has been adopted by the shredding industry. DIN is an abbreviation for the German Institute for Standardization (Deutsches Institut für Normung).
Security level 6, which hasn't been officially adopted by DIN 32757, is approved by the NSA (National Security Agency) for top-secret shredding. You can find a detailed list of specifications for the different shredding security levels by going here: http://www.officezone.com/shredder_guide.htm#security?NR.
Office Zone, a leading supplier of paper shredders over the Internet, offers a wide variety of paper shredders and information for all shredding applications (www.officezone.com/shred1.htm). Shredders vary from desk side models to high-end industrial shredders and CD destroyers. You can contact Office Zone by phone (1-800-543-5454) or by e-mail (info@officezone.com).
J. David Stuart is a leading authority regarding office automation equipment and supplies.
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