Case Study

Shredding for Security

When Joe is done with his printed documents, he shreds them using a high-security shredder that meets the federal security requirement demanded of the Department of Defense, NATO and other government and military for disposing of top-secret documents

July 21, 2008 — CSO — When Joe is done with sensitive printed documents, he shreds them using a high-security shredder that meets the federal security requirement demanded of the Department of Defense, NATO and other government and military for disposing of top-secret documents.

All DoD-approved shredders must meet exacting standards for crosscutting the documents until they are unrecognizable and can't be glued back together.

JOE'S OFFICE

Joe needs to protect his proprietary research. You're looking at just one of his defenses. Click HERE to see a diagram of the office or click on any of Joe's other security measures.

(Lest you think no one would do this, remember there are billions of dollars on the line, and that "Dumpster diving" is a common enough activity to have a catchy name. Also, students seeking a Master of Science in conservation at some universities are required to shatter a lightbulb and then glue it back together. There are plenty of examples of extreme efforts to reassemble any object of value.)

Joe's Level 5 High Security crosscut paper shredder is built with 1,700 components that shred a single sheet of letter-size paper into 10,000 microparticles that are so small they are unreadable even through an electronic microscope. The GSA-approved high-security shredder costs about $1,200.

Secure onsite or offsite shredding is also available as a service from national providers such as Iron Mountain as well as from numerous regional companies. For Joe's purposes, offsite shredding would have necessitated sending a trusted employee along with the documents to observe and document their destruction; shredding onsite seemed more practical.

When it's time for a new PC or laptop, Joe can destroy the old hard drive, as well as used CDs, DVDs and other media, in the office's central multimedia disintegrator. He feeds his high-tech trash into a large, 16-by-19-inch feed opening, and then the DoD-approved, high-security shredder pulverizes the devices with an 8-blade cutting system, leaving a single bag of microscopic debris.

The super-shredder set the company back about $21,000, and Joe's policies are quite strict and detailed regarding destruction of sensitive information in any form.

-Stacy Collett