Did you know that protecting the financial information of your business, staff, clients, and other partner individuals and organizations is just as important as safeguarding their personal data? This is why DataSafe has invested the past three decades managing, collecting, and destroying confidential information for Oregon’s financial sector. Whether your financial organization is large or small, you are vulnerable to a data attack or breach. For instance:
- Between May and July 2017, Experian, a major credit reporting agency, was found to have exposed the personal information of approximately 15 million people. The data breach was linked to a vulnerability in a web application and involved sensitive information such as names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, and addresses.
- On July 31, 2019, Capitol One was obligated to announce a massive data hack to their system that compromised the personal data of about 6 million Canadians and corporations and exposed one million social insurance numbers. The incident affected about 106 million North American credit card holders and applicants.
- On December 10, 2021, Square, the financial services platform of Block, Inc., was breached, revealing customers’ full names and their brokerage account numbers, as well as other information for some of the affected individuals. The number of clients affected is unknown, but 8.2 million current and former customers were informed by Block, Inc.
What Financial Services in Oregon Should Know
It’s impossible to maintain total immunity from data breaches, but closing as many gaps as possible will decrease the likelihood of a breach and ensure that your business is doing due diligence to avoid data theft.
1. Remain Compliant
DataSafe stays current with all state and federal privacy laws and provides secure shredding and data destruction to keep your financial institution compliant with pertinent laws.
- The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) mandates that financial institutions protect customer data and dispose of it properly.
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires the secure disposal of protected health information (PHI) to ensure patient confidentiality.
- The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) mandates proper handling and disposal of records related to employee leave requests and medical documentation.
- The Oregon Privacy Act (OCPA) came into effect on July 1, 2024, and requires businesses to destroy or erase data in a manner that prevents reconstruction or retrieval.
2. Destroy Your Data
- Paper Shredding should ensure that the shredded material cannot be read or reconstructed to remain compliant with state and federal privacy laws. DataSafe’s secure paper shredding services provide the confidence that your financial information will be protected from a data breach and will meet all compliance requirements.
- Hard Drive Destruction is the process of taking all discarded hard drives, thumb drives, USB drives, cell phones, electronics, and other electronic storage devices and destroying them so that information can never be recovered from them. Don’t leave obsolete, damaged, or replaced storage devices on the shelf and never throw them away. Use DataSafe’s data destruction to securely eradicate your confidential financial information.
Qualities of a Professional Shredding Vendor
- Chain of Custody should be maintained from the moment you entrust them with your documents until the shredding job is completed. This includes the safe and secure transportation to the truck and to the facility and the handling by the shredding technicians.
- Secure Facilities are vital to the protection of your information. DataSafe operates secure facilities and adheres to stringent protocols when handling your sensitive information.
- Trained Staff are at the heart of both security and quality service. At DataSafe, our employees are polite and courteous and have security background checks performed on a regular basis. They are professional, knowledgeable, and trained in privacy laws and handling secure information.
- A Certificate of Destruction will be provided at the completion of every destruction job to provide proof that your materials have been destroyed in compliance with all known privacy laws. This document should be kept on file for future reference and in the case of an audit.
- NAID AAA Certified shredding companies are verified to be following all destruction protocols, separating the best from the rest. DataSafe is always prepared for a vigorous and unannounced audit to ensure that we’re meeting the numerous laws and regulations related to the disposal of confidential customer information.
DataSafe’s secure shredding and data destruction in Oregon will protect your financial organization from harmful data breaches. We destroy all forms of printed and stored sensitive information in compliance with all known state and federal privacy laws. You can protect your valuable and secure financial information by calling us at 971-328-3484 or completing the form on this page.