Cross Cut
Shredders
Utilizing paper shredders is a great habit and
great practice.
Utilizing paper shredders is a great habit and great
practice. It isn't classified information that paper shredders
are fantastic for demolishing private information and keeping
individual identities safe. After saying this, a few paper
shredders are better at shredding paper than other
shredders.
The largest difference is the shredded paper size after the
paper has been shredded. The other day, as I was answering a
few inquiries on Yahoo Answers I found an individual who
wondered if it was alright to utilize scissors to cut up
applications for credit cards.
I nearly gasped in shock at this question. After the shock,
I posted my solution to this inquiry. Here is basically what I
said: Using scissors to cut up an application for a credit
card, or any other paper with sensitive information on it; is
definitely better than not cutting it up at all, yet it won't
provide you enough safety from identity thieves.
Paper that has been cut with scissors is pretty simple to
piece back together if an individual has enough time to do it.
The majority of thieves will not do this, yet, there a few that
do.
There are real cases which have been documented of
applications of credit cards that have been pieced back
together with tape, completed, and sent back to the credit card
company! To say it using basic words, cutting or tearing up
private information is not going to work.
Then, I explained how to correctly destroy paper. You must
shred all paper that has information on it that you do not
desire other people to view. You may utilize an electric paper
shredder to do this.
It is important to not only utilize a regular paper
shredder, you really should use a cross cut shredder (also
known as particle cut shredders or confetti cut shredders).
Merely using strip cut paper shredders will not cut it
(pardon the pun). Strip cut shredders cut documents into a
quarter of an inch and once in awhile one-eighth inch document
strips. These paper strips, even though they are a lot harder
to put back together, can be put back together.
This was proven by basket weavers from Iran after the United
States embassy was overrun in the seventies. Sensitive United
States government papers were put back together and in the end
were really easy to read.
You may view these documents that were put back together on
Wikipedia. In sum, using cross-cut shredders is the only method
that will keep your information safe.
The shredder's head blades cut the document into two
different directions, one up and down, and the other sideways.
There continues to be a large range of various cross cut
shredders based on the particle's document.
This is typically referred to as the paper shredder's
security level. I suggest using a security level of three or
more. For high security shredding, use level 5 or level 6, but
these are not typically necessary for office or home
utilization.
Make sure you realize that the littler the particle, the
less sheets which can be shred at any particular time period
because of stress placed upon the motor and blades.
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