What Makes an Expert? Glad You Asked...

by:  Tom Hinz

On my TV, it’s usually shows like ESPN, The Weather Channel, HGTV, Discovery Channel and WGN, if the Cubs are playing.  Well, that was until my two college sons came home this summer and now it’s more like Swamp People, Storage Wars, Ball Boys and Pawn Stars, at least when they’re home.  One of the things that fascinates me is when an item is brought in for sale and nobody really knows what it’s worth…..until, they call in an expert.
                                                     
Really, what or who is an expert on anything?  Generally defined, an expert is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience or occupation in a particular field or area of study. Having prolonged and intense experience through practice and education, the expert judges and decides rightly, justly or wisely. Okay, I suppose it’s hard to argue with that, but can that “extensive knowledge and prolonged & intense experience be quantified? According to Malcolm Gladwell’s essay, “Outliers,” it can be.  You may remember those three words that every baseball coach and piano teacher recited, “practice, practice, practice.”  Gladwell agrees.  In fact, he suggests it takes 10,000 hours of practice to make an expert.

When it comes to your accountancy reports, your healthcare records, and your retirement investments, don’t you want the best you can get, the expert?  I do too.  And, don’t you also want these experts, who are in possession of your most sensitive information, to partner with another expert when the time comes for the professional and competent destruction of those documents?  That day will come and for thousands of our customers, that is who Integra is and that is what we do.  A full service document destruction company, like Integra, will offer plant-based offsite service, truck-based onsite service and walk-in services and we have for almost 25 years now.

I could suggest, and Gladwell might agree, that we certainly have put the time in to designate us as an expert.  In John MacArthur’s book, Twelve Ordinary Men, he writes, “Knowledge is power. Whoever has the information has the lead.  If you want to find a leader, look for someone who is asking the right questions and genuinely looking for answers.”  That’s what experts do, they lead, they’re inquisitive, they take initiative, and they’re involved. For example, consider these questions we may ask.  Are you a customer who has a one-time purge of documents that you’ve retained long enough and have simply run out of room?  How many and what size boxes do you have or are the documents in file cabinets?  Are they on the ground floor, an upper level or in the basement?  Do you prefer onsite or offsite service and are you working on a timeframe?”  Maybe it’s ongoing, routed service that you need.  We will help you with the right type and number of containers, such as carts and consoles.  How about your frequency needs, your billing options, your hours of operation?  Perhaps you want to know more about who we are, the customers we have in your line of business, our commitment to the environment, sustainability, technology and best practice security standards.  Maybe you need to know how to handle your hard drives and electronic media storage devices. You have questions, and you should; we should have answers, and we do.

I once heard that the wise man is not the one who must know all there is to know about everything, but the man who can find the one who has the answers he seeks.  That, we call the expert…..that’s Integra!

Contributors are:
Tom Hinz, Account Manager, Integra Certified Document Destruction
Malcolm Gladwell, “Outliers”
John MacArthur, “Twelve Ordinary Men”
Wikipedia

Posted by:
Leslie Jones

Hard Drives....Here, There and Almost Everywhere!

                                     

by:  Tom Hinz

The certification requirements

Based on the NAID certification requirements for media endorsement, including hard drive destruction, Integra must have a written and verifiable process for the physical destruction of conventional computer hard drives which render them unreadable and unreconstructable, and we do. We first record and retain the serial numbers of all the hard drives being destroyed for each client and provide the client with printed materials of our procedures and methods as well as certifications of destructions.

The definition

Let’s back up a step and define what a hard drive is. With the help of Wikipedia, we learn that a hard drive (or disk drive) is a device for storing and retrieving digital information, primarily computer data. It consists of one or more rapidly rotating disks
called platters. The drives also have magnetic heads arranged to write data to the surfaces and read it from them.

More than just in your computer

Are hard drives found in my PC, my laptop, my notebook? Check, Check, Check. My photocopier-check! Wait a minute….in my photocopier? Yes, that’s right. According to a CBS News report, nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive
storing an image of every document copied, scanned or emailed. Now, if you’re anything like me, you may have made a copy of nearly every important document you have. In my case, these include my driver’s license, social security card, passport, medical
records, car titles, property deeds, mortgage records, insurance papers and the like.

These records are safe, right?

Perhaps they are safe as long as my home copier stays in my home. But, what if I improperly discard it or trade it in for another model…..what happens to my data then? Well, if I’m not diligent to have the data professionally wiped or overridden, it’s still
there for the next owner to have, like it or not…..and I don’t! Well, it wasn’t until I read further into the article did I realize how at risk my data really is. Should my copier hard drive fall into the wrong hands, it only takes minutes to locate and remove the hard drive. Then, using a forensic program available for free from the internet, a scan of the drive
can be run downloading up to tens of thousands of images in less than 12 hours. Are you thinking, “Wow” like I am?

Some good news to report

In my home, I must be personally responsible to have my copier hard drive destroyed when I retire it to the Waste Away Group for electronic recycling, and I will now. Outside of the home, it is our belief that awareness to the responsibility of the federal
privacy laws such as HIPAA, HITECH and FACTA is increasing. Business is taking these laws, among others, which are meant to safeguard personal information they are in possession of, more seriously. And, so are we! It is our goal to continue to educate our
clientele through informational blogs like this one as well as provide state-of-the-art hard destruction services. Look for more information on the laws in an upcoming issue. Be aware and be safe….together, it is our responsibility.

Contributions by
Tom Hinz, Integra Account Manager, a Waste Away Group company
Wikipedia
CBS News
NAID Certification Policies

SIZE MATTERS.....particle size, that is!

by:  Tom Hinz

Well, in our economy, it's particle size matters to be specific.  To quote a line from the 1889 read of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain; he writes, "She was wise, subtle and knew more than one way to skin a cat."

That is, more than one way to get the job done!  

I will admit that there is indeed more than one way to destroy a document.  Yes, you can bury it in a plastic bag in your backyard, let Mother Nature do her thing and hope it's never unearthed to become fodder for the next identity thief.   Yes, you can dispose of it in your trash because you are certain that your trash ends up in the landfill, right?  That could be true, but can't you catch a glimpse in your mind's eye of what a "dumpster diver" looks like?  Yes, you can burn your documents!!  Now, there's an environmentally friendly way to take care of business, but it can be cheap and thorough, right?

Think about this as reported to us last year from Lt. Cindy Kilgore and Michiana Area Crimestoppers.  She writes, "A study released in 2010 from Javelin Strategy and Research indicated that 11.1 million people were victims of identity theft in 2009 to the tune of $54 billion in fraud.  Victims spent hours and hundreds of dollars trying to resolve their crime."  This crime does not always happen to somebody else. It can happen to any of us. In a later blog I will write about what the law has to say regarding how business must handle personal information they have in their possession.

Why is all of this important?  Well, it's a reminder to each of us that when it comes to the proper way to destroy a document, size matters!  When you see the next Integra truck roll by, take a note of the AAA certification logo.  This top level NAID endorsement is not only highly regarded, but it must be earned and requires diligent effort to maintain.  And, to keep this rating, our destruction process and audit methodology must prove that our shredded particle size meets or exceeds the certification specifications produced by the commercial grade destruction equipment we use in our trucks and at our plant. 

And we do!

So, no matter how you skin it, or should I say, destroy it by continuous shred, cross cut, pierce & tear, pulverize, disintegrate or hammermill methods, size matters to us!

Sources: Tom Hinz, Account Manager, Integra Certified Document Destruction, LLC

Lt. Cindy Kilgore, Michiana Area Crimestoppers

National Association of Information Destruction (AAA Certification Requirements)

WWW.Worldwidewords.org 

The Environmental Impact of Document Destruction

by:  Tom Hinz

Many people have asked me over the years how recycling their shredded paper impacts the environment in a positive way.  Here is why that’s such a good question---we all know that the knowledge of a securely destroyed document is one bookend of the event, responsibly conserving our nation’s natural resources is the other.  For example, when Integra Certified Document Destruction recently partnered with the Elkhart Chamber of Commerce and the Elkhart County Solid Waste Management District for the annual Clean Your Files Day, our goal for the 350 people that showed up was to provide the peace of mind that is inherent with destroying items like old files, tax records, cancelled checks and the like.   But, that’s only half of the story.

Here is the other half…..the collection of over 40,000 pounds of paper in a single day must make a difference, and it does in a very big way.   Should you wonder how 20 tons of shredded and recycled paper will directly affect the environment, let these numbers sink in:

Saved were       

336 trees
7,515 gallons of oil
59 cubic yards of landfill space
79,110 kilowatts of energy
138,442 gallons of water while preventing 1,187 pounds of pollution entering the air!!

So, remember that when you bring your files to the 2013 Clean Your Files Day and have them destroyed by a professional destruction firm such as Integra, you are not only protecting yourself from identity theft, you are being environmentally minded, which is a very good thing for all of us!

Contributed by Tom Hinz, Account Manager for Integra Certified Document Destruction and
                                Megan Kolaczyk, Environmental Utility Coordinator for the Elkhart Indiana Environmental Center