When you think about the security of your data, what comes to mind? If you’re like most people, you probably think about using strong passwords and firewalls. While those are important, they’re not the only way to protect your data. In fact, there’s a much more secure way to keep your information safe from prying eyes – hard drive destruction. Hard drive destruction is the process of completely destroying all the data on a hard drive so that it can never be accessed again.

Hard drive destruction is the ultimate way to protect your information from being accessed by unauthorized individuals. This article will discuss the benefits of using a hard drive destruction service and how the process works.

Hard Drive Destruction Benefits

Using hard drive destruction services provides you with four significant benefits. Let’s take a look at each one separately.

Keeps Data Secure

One of the biggest benefits of using a hard drive destruction service is that it keeps your data incredibly secure. When you destroy a hard drive, you’re ensuring that not even a single byte of information can be accessed by anyone, regardless of their level of expertise. Hard drives are notoriously tricky to destroy, so unless someone has specialized knowledge and equipment, they won’t be able to access any of your data.

Compliance

Compliance is another big benefit of using a hard drive destruction service. All businesses have to comply with privacy laws that protect the client’s information. Using a hard drive destruction service is the best way to ensure that you’re in compliance with these regulations.

Environmentally Friendly

Not only is hard drive destruction secure and compliant, but it’s also environmentally friendly. When you destroy a hard drive, you’re not just destroying the data on the drive – you’re also destroying the hardware itself. This means that there’s no need to send old drives to a landfill – they can be recycled instead. Therefore, hard drive destruction services are an excellent way to reduce your environmental impact.

Free Up Office Space

Finally, using a hard drive destruction service can free up office space. If you keep your old hard drives in the office, they can end up taking up valuable space, so by destroying them, you can make more use of your office space.

Hard Drive Destruction Process

When it comes to the hard drive destruction process, it may differ between shredding providers, so let’s take a look at what the A1 Datashreds destruction process is.

When your destruction day arrives, the shredding techs are going to be ready, so you just need to direct them to what hard drive you want to be destroyed. Next, our technicians will record every serial number of each hard drive and then take them to our mobile shred truck. They will either be destroyed on-site or off-site by feeding them into the commercial shredder, where they are destroyed into many pieces.

After they are destroyed, we will provide you with a Certificate of Destruction that will list all the serial numbers of the hard drives that were destroyed, which is proof that you are complying with privacy laws. Then the shredded bits of hard drives are taken to be recycled.

If you want to ensure the security of your data, compliance with government regulations, and environmental friendliness, then you need to use a hard drive destruction service. Hard drives are difficult to destroy on your own, so it’s best to leave it to the experts.

Businesses use paper to share sensitive information with their employees or clients every day. But what happens to that paper once it is no longer needed? It needs to be destroyed in a manner so that the information on it can’t be shared, and that’s where paper shredding services come in. In this article, we will discuss what paper shredding services are and all the advantages of using a paper shredding service. So if you’re looking for a reliable way to destroy your old documents, a paper shredding service is the perfect solution.

What are Paper Shredding Services?

Paper shredding services are provided by shredding companies that will come to your business or even your residence to collect all your sensitive documents and destroy them in a secure way, making them unrecoverable. They have highly trained shredding technicians who can either shred your documents in their mobile shredding trucks or take them back to their shredding facility, which are both equipped with commercial shredders that make quick work of your documents.

Advantages to Using Paper Shredding Services

Using paper shredding services can provide your business with many advantages, like saving time and money, better data security, and more. Let’s go through each advantage in more detail so you can see why so many businesses rely on paper shredding services.

Cost-Effective

One of the biggest advantages of using a paper shredding service is that it’s cost-effective. Businesses can save time and money by outsourcing their document destruction to a professional paper shredding company. In fact, many paper shredding services offer free quotes so you can compare prices and find the best deal for your business.

Security

Another big advantage of using a paper shredding service is that it’s secure. By destroying old documents in a professional manner, businesses can rest assured knowing their information is safe from prying eyes. Paper shredding companies use state-of-the-art equipment to destroy documents, making them impossible to reconstruct or read.

Saves Time

A third advantage of using a paper shredding service is that it saves time. Businesses can save time by not having to worry about destroying old documents themselves. In addition, these companies will come to your location to pick up your paperwork, so you don’t even have to leave your office.

Environmentally Friendly

A fourth advantage of using a paper shredding service is that it’s environmentally friendly. By professionally destroying old documents, businesses can help reduce the amount of paper going into landfills. Paper shredding companies use state-of-the-art equipment to destroy documents, making them into tiny pieces that can be easily recycled so they can be made into new paper products like paper towels or tissue.

Peace of Mind

Finally, one of the biggest advantages of using a paper shredding service is peace of mind. Business owners can rest assured that their information is safe from prying eyes by properly destroying old documents. Paper shredding companies use state-of-the-art equipment to destroy documents, making them impossible to reconstruct or read.

If you’re looking for a reliable way to destroy your old documents, a paper shredding service is a perfect solution! Contact A1 Datashred today for a free quote and see how much money and time you can save.

Every office will have documents, whether you are a large company or a small business. These documents often contain sensitive information about the business or its clients. Eventually, those documents will no longer be useful, so what do you do with them? If you throw them away in the trash, that information could be stolen and used against you.

Most companies depend on paper shredding to protect their old documents from being used for fraudulent purposes. Mobile document shredding is now a common service that involves the destruction of sensitive documents on-site by professional document shredding companies. The primary goal of mobile document shredding companies is to offer a cost-effective and safer way for your confidential or sensitive documents to be disposed of.

As you’ve just read above, there are many benefits of using mobile document shredding versus off-site shredding, and that’s not all of them. Let’s go through all of them together in greater detail and talk about the mobile document shredding process.

Mobile Document Shredding Benefits

Cost-Effective & Efficiency

Mobile document shredding services are cost-effective as you do not have to invest in expensive equipment to shred documents or the maintenance that comes with them. Since you aren’t doing all the shredding yourself, which can take days if you have a big pile of them, you can get back to other work tasks and let the experts handle the shredding.

Compliance

There are privacy policies that are in place that help protect your client’s personal information.  Compliance with these privacy policies is crucial and can be easily done by using a mobile shredding service. Without privacy legislation in place, you may find that your personal data is compromised. Shredding companies designed their services for this reason, so they can protect your sensitive information and help you stay compliant.

Extra Security

With mobile document shredding, all your documents are not only shredded securely but are also destroyed right there at your location. They are taken directly from your office and then to the mobile shred truck, which has commercial shredding equipment. Your documents are shredded right before your eyes, and you can watch the whole shredding process. This fantastic mobile document shredding feature allows you to rest easy and know that your documents are destroyed, allowing you to focus on more important work tasks.

Environmental Protection

When you use a mobile document shredding service, you are also doing your part to protect the environment. Every shredding service is eco-friendly as after every job, the shredded bits of paper are brought back to be recycled and made into other paper products, which means that the paper waste stays out of our landfills. This also goes for their mobile hard drive destruction services.

Mobile Document Shredding Process

If you are interested in mobile document shredding, you might be curious to know how the whole shredding process works. It’s a straightforward process, with the first step being to call your local shredding company and letting them know you would like a mobile document shredding service. They will then discuss how many documents you need shredded, answer any questions you might have, and finally scheduling your appointment.

The next step is to wait for your shredding date; you can even prepare your documents, so it’s easy to collect. Lastly, it’s your mobile document shredding day; point to the documents you want to be shredded. They will collect them, bring them to the mobile truck and shred them. You can even watch the service yourself. After it’s finished, they will provide you with a Certificate of Destruction, confirming your documents have been securely destroyed.

If you are ready to book your mobile document shredding service, contact A1 Data Shred today.

Looking around your office, you notice piles of documents that you no longer need crowding everyone’s desk. Now that fall is around the corner, why not clean up the office to prepare for the busy season using a one-time purge shredding service.

One of the best tools you can use to help tidy up the office is a one-time purge shredding, as it allows you to get rid of that excess document clutter but do it safely and securely. So how do you go about scheduling a one-time purge shredding service? Does it offer any other benefits? This blog post will discuss what a one-time purge service is, how the process works, and all the benefits it brings.

What is One-Time Purge Shredding?

If you have never used a shredding service before, you might not know what a one-time purge shredding is, so let’s break it down. Businesses and residents use this type of service when they have a pile of documents that need to be destroyed; they do this as it provides protection of your information.

The difference between this type of shredding and others is that a one-time purge shredding is just like the name suggests; it’s just a one-time purging of your documents. Small businesses that may not have enough shredding to do it on a regular basis will use this type of shredding service, which they tend to use once or maybe twice a year. Larger businesses will even use this service in between their regular scheduled service if they tend to gain a lot more documents than usual. That’s the great thing about one-time purge shredding; it’s so flexible.

One-Time Purge Shredding Process

The shredding process for this service is straightforward and can be explained in 3 easy steps.

• Call your local shredding company. They will discuss and answer all your questions about your shredding needs.
• Schedule your appointment. Pick the day that works best for you, and we will come on time and ready to shred.
• Shredding day arrives. The shredding technician will be ready to go; all you need to do is show them where your documents are located, and they’ll handle the rest. Once the shredding process is complete, they will provide you with a Certificate of Destruction, proof your documents have been destroyed securely.

Shredding Benefits

When it comes to one-time purge shredding, you get more benefits than just being able to destroy your sensitive documents. It is also cost-effective and efficient as you no longer have to buy or maintain your own personal shredders. Nor do you have to spend days shredding that giant stack of documents that allows you to free up time for more important tasks. Lastly, which is one of the most incredible benefits, is that these services are eco-friendly. After every shredding service, the shredded paper bits are brought to a secure recycling facility to be used to make other paper products instead of going into landfills.

Contact A1 Datashred today for more information about our shredding services if you need a one-time purge shredding service.

Every other year, April would bring with it not only showers but the ever anticipated tax season as well. However as we enter month 4 of 2021,  the effects of the pandemic continue to be a tough time for many people. With this in mind, the IRS is doing everything possible to help taxpayers navigate these unusual circumstances. Most notably, they have extended the tax deadline from April 15th, to May 17th.

As you gather up pay stubs and receipts from this past year, it’s critical to take extra precautions with how your information is handled and who has access to it. Identity theft is increasingly on the rise and during tax season, the majority of business owners and residents are managing more personal information now than any other time during the year.

Let’s take a look at some simple but very effective ways in which you can keep your identity secure, this tax season.

Choose a Tax Preparer Carefully

Taxes can be difficult and a challenging area to deal with for many, which is why accountants are used for those who prefer professional insight. Depending on whether you are filing as an individual or on behalf of a business, can determine who you file your taxes with. That said, you should be extremely diligent in choosing your accountant and confirm some key aspects first. To start, check that the accountant has the necessary credentials, and always steer clear of an accountant who guarantees you’ll receive a significant refund. While tempting to go ahead with, the likelihood of this happening legally is slim. Promises like this can indicate they are willing to fraudulently edit numbers, which is not what you want to have on your tax record.

Ensure Your Mailbox is Locked

Yes, even while we rely so heavily on technology nowadays and hackers are obtaining information online, physical mail is still produced and circulated which leaves room for thieves to go down this avenue. In 2019, roughly 1.7 million packages went missing every day. If your mailbox isn’t secure and locked, then you may be vulnerable to theft as access is simple on a mailbox with an opening flap. If you’re unable to lock your home mail-box, consider redirecting mail to a post office box where it is entirely secured.

Create Strong and Hard to Guess Passwords

Establishing proper password protection is one of the smartest lines of defence out there. Create passwords that are strong, hard to guess, and creative in characters. Choose a combination of characters that is unique to a memory or a date that no one else would know about except you. If you share your computer with anyone else such as a coworker, it is also important not to automatically save any password details. In doing so, you may be exposing this information to another user unknowingly. It is not worth the risk.

Secure Your Computer System

Sensitive information is often stored on home computers, which means you need the proper security measures in place to protect it. Always check that your firewall, antispam, antivirus, and antimalware software is all up-to-date and working the way it should be. If you’re planning on ditching old computers, always remove the hard drives and have them professionally destroyed, first. A certified document destruction service should be able to do this for you and will recycle the remaining electronic pieces afterward.

Be Aware of Phishing Scams

If this is a new term to you, essentially phishing refers to an outside attempt at gaining your personal information through an en email or website. However, know that legitimate companies will never ask for your password or information via email, and if you actually owe money to the IRS, they’ll contact you through physical mail. They will never contact you by telephone or email demanding immediate payment. If someone does call, claiming to be from the IRS and threatening you with jail time unless you pay immediately, hang up and report the attempt.

Watch Who You Provide Information To

You are not required to provide your SSN to every business that asks for it. Prior to offering any personal details to even a company that sounds authentic, ask yourself if they genuinely need the information to carry out a specific task. If it’s not a financial institution you trust and deal with for your banking services, think again. Check if their website is secure, and if they have policies in place to keep your data secure. If there are questions or you feel uneasy, simply refuse to provide the information they are requesting. It’s ok to say no.

If Possible, File Your Taxes Early

If feasible, why not gather up your taxes early and refrain from putting them off? Remember, the earlier you submit your taxes, the less time an identity thief has to put in a fraudulent return under your name. Filing early frees up time and eliminates that unnecessary stress that often comes with waiting until a deadline arrives.

Shred All Sensitive Documents

At the end of the day, if you’re not shredding your personal and financial documents before disposing of them, you are leaving yourself extremely vulnerable. If these records are tossed in the trash or recycling bin when they are no longer needed, you lose control over them and anyone can rummage through and steal those documents. Old tax documents, copied pay stubs, or notes containing passwords, can all be attractive to thieves to use to their advantage.

Consider instead, collecting these files together in a box or bin and once full, contact a professional shredding company. In doing so you can rest assured that your documents will be destroyed beyond recovery.  Turn to one-time or regular on-going shredding services for peace of mind in knowing your files have been shredded with no potential of being stolen.

For more information on A1 DATASHRED’s secure residential shredding services, send us a message online or give us a call at 1-888-95-SHRED

With spring in the air, many residents are taking on the yearly task of spring cleaning their home or office. Hooray for nice weather and a new season, right!?  While you may primarily be focused on gardening, cleaning out your garage and tidying up your property, don’t forget to focus on all the junk that’s inevitably collected over the months.

More specifically? Consider the files and documents you may have piling up in your desk or junk drawer. With so many of us working from home this past year, there’s a good chance that file accumulation is larger than normal and it’s important that these sensitive documents don’t get tossed in the garbage.

Perhaps you’ve heard of on-site shredding services. A handy and secure method of document destruction that can be done right outside your home, through a mobile shredding truck. As the pandemic continues, it has become an increasingly popular service choice due to convenience and security, and one that we don’t see changing for quite some time.

If you’re looking for innovative and creative new ideas to stand out among your competitors while supporting the community in fighting information theft, consider a spring shredding event. But what about Covid-19 in Boston, you might be wondering? Fair concern. However the good news is that if attendee numbers are monitored, controlled and the process is done with the proper safety and precautions in place, an outdoor shred event can be done. At A1 DATASHRED, we can work with you to organize a shredding event that’s totally compliant with current state and localized restrictions.

First, let’s dive into the details and how a shredding event takes place.

What is an On-Site Shredding Event Exactly?

An on-site community shredding event is where you (or another sponsor) hosts an on-site shredding vehicle at a specific location for a period of time, during which guests or community members can shred their documents for free or for a donated fee.

The process is simple. The truck and uniformed technicians arrive at the agreed-upon location at a requested time. Once there, they collect the designated documents for shredding and deposit them into the internal shredding machine, where the papers will be cross-cut according to the latest privacy regulations. Arguably the most fun part of on-site shredding is that it occurs immediately, which allows guests to take on the role of spectators, watching in-person as their papers are securely shredded.

At the end of the event, all the shredded particles will be transported to a trusted local recycling facility, where they’ll be used to create new, recycled paper products. Your guests can return to their home or work with complete confidence that their information is safe, and they’ll also leave with a newfound appreciation for what’s involved in document security.

What’s Involved in Organizing a Spring-Cleaning Shredding Event?

The first thing you have to do is determine what the purpose of your on-site shredding event will be. If you’re just looking to give back to your community and create some positive associations with your business, make your shredding event free to attend and invite guests to bring whatever papers they have for shredding. Bearing in mind Covid-19, you’ll want to set up individual appointments with your attendees, so that numbers are minimal and all parties involved; you, a representative from A1 DATASHRED, and the guest can maintain safe distance, with masks on at all times of course.

It’s a good idea to remind them that any personally identifiable information (PII), like a name or address, should be shredded to help prevent identity theft or a data breach.

By contrast, if you want the event to benefit a local charity or act as a fundraiser, you can simply ask for a one-time donation of a certain amount. Guests can still shred whatever they need, and you’ll be able to make a monetary contribution to your community.

Aside from that initial planning phase, the rest of the event set-up is easy. Determine the place, time, and date you’d like it to occur, and ask your professional shredding provider for an on-site shredding event. And that’s it! The shredding company will handle the rest from there, which means that, even on the day of the event, all you’ll need to worry about is letting your guests know where to go and when to be there.

Fast, Secure, Convenient: On-Site Mobile Shredding

Document shredding completed at your location, isn’t just interesting to witness first-hand; it’s also 100% compliant with the latest state and federal privacy laws, which means it’s suitable for everything from junk mail to confidential medical records.

At A1 DATASHRED, we’ll work with you to help you identify the perfect shredding service for your needs and the volume of documents you have to safely destroy. All guests participating in the spring shredding event will receive a Certificate of Destruction, verifying that their documents were properly destroyed by a reputable, professional shredding company.

For more information on our shredding services and hosting a spring-clean shred event (safely), give us a call at (617) 681-4200.

One of our primary goals with the various paper shredding, and electronic disposal services is the continued support of recycling efforts. This is very important to us as reducing the impact on the environment is critical for us all. Climate change is an undeniable fact, and our environmental impact is accelerating that process. Reducing our impact will help to bring things in to balance again, and just generally make a cleaner and far more pleasant world to live in.

How We’re Lowering Environmental Impact

One of our primary methods of lowering our impact is recycling all the shredded paper material generated from a shred job. With the sheer volume of paper still being used in the world today, the impact of replacing everything one to one is huge. However, the savings of recycling even just one ton of paper goes a long way.

Recycling One Ton of Paper

Let’s look at some of the savings that can be achieved by recycling just one ton of paper. As you read the following, consider just how much savings we can achieve as we scale recycling operations.

17 mature trees: Trees are one of nature’s air filters, taking in CO2 and releasing clean oxygen. Furthermore, they provide essential habitats to many animals, and are overall an integral part of the ecosystem.

7,000 gallons of water: Water is essential for all life on this planet. There is only a limited amount of freshwater easily available.

3 cubic yards of landfill space: Landfills take up an ever increasing amount of space. The garbage has to go somewhere after all, but it requires the destruction of natural habitats to create them.

2 barrels of oil: Oil is very controversial these days, but it’s impact is clear. By lowering our need for it, we lower its impact on the environment.

4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity: There is only so much power to go around, and much of it comes from non-renewable sources. Lowering the overall need for it lowers the non-renewables impact as a whole while we search for clean energy sources.

All of that comes from just one ton of paper. Just the one. Now start multiplying that many times over, and the benefit for the environment, and us by extension, becomes clear. We’ve taken it upon ourselves to help push forward sustainability, and we make it easy for everyone to help contribute as well.

If you’re interested in keeping your private information safe while pushing forward sustainability, give us a shout, and we’ll help you with both!

How long has there been a computer in your house? What about the workplace? How many old TVs are sitting in the basement, or the attic, collecting dust for years and years? Has your shelf of old cell phones been cleared off recently or are you still using them as questionable decor?

There’s a tendency for people to hold onto their older electronics when newer ones come in. Mostly it’s due to people wanting a backup in case the new one bites the dust suddenly, or to simply relocate the older one to another room that could use it. Otherwise the reasons can be anything, from hoarding, to simply forgetting about it. Eventually there comes a time when they have to go. When that time does come, you need to make sure you’re getting rid of them properly.

Electronic Recycling

Inappropriate Disposal

The default behavior for most would be to load up the old electronics and take them to the dump, or throw smaller ones in the trash, and in some cases to drop them in a ditch somewhere down a country road. Obviously, don’t do that last one. The landfill is not the correct place for these items to end up for some very important reasons.

Thousands of computers, cell phones, TVs, DVD players, and other electronics are suddenly rendered obsolete every day, and many feel a compulsion to have the latest devices. As many of them find their way to the landfill they take up valuable space that is better served for more appropriate trash. This causes landfills to fill up too quickly, necessitating them to be closed and new ones opened.

Furthermore, electronics contain materials that pose a hazard should they break down outside. Materials such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and other materials will break down and leak chemicals into the air, water, and soil. Naturally, they will eventually find their way into the bodies of the plant, animal, and human life in the area. In case you’re confused, ingesting these chemicals is bad for you, and the environment, but there is a solution.

E-Waste Recycling

Electronics are stuffed full of recoverable materials such as various metals, glass, and plastics. These can be salvaged and reused in new products, the more harmful material can be properly disposed of preventing any risk of contamination. By recycling these components we are able to reduce our impact on the environment by lowering the need for new resources to be extracted.

The process is rather straightforward, get in touch with an e-waste recycling provider and make some arrangements. Your e-waste can be picked up, or they may provide drop off options for collection. When it comes to computers or any kind of data storage device you need to make sure that it gets destroyed before it’s sent off to recycling. Some services will combine their recycling with hard drive destruction, in which case you should be good to go. But make sure to double check before committing as you want to avoid any risks of data theft.

Electronics need to be recycled properly and it’s not hard to do it. Let’s all do our part to protect the environment and do something properly.