ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the Profile Radio Spotlight. Profile of Traverse City offers fast accurate retrieval and archiving of documents and secure shredding with guaranteed recycling. Profile is HIPAA, FACTA and Graham-Leach-Bliley compliant. For more information, visit them on the web at www.gtprofile.com. Profile, the professional document manager. And now, here's your host, John Bentley. JOHN: Today on Profile Radio Spotlight, we have Tim Oberst. He is the President-Elect of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). He's also the owner of Ohio Mobile Shredding. Welcome to Profile Radio's Spotlight, Tim. TIM: Thank you, John. JOHN: Now, tell us, just give us a little overview, what exactly is the National Association for Information Destruction? TIM: Well, quite simply, NAID, as we call it, N-A-I-D, it's the International Non-Profit Trade Association of the Information Destruction Industry. Its members are companies and individuals involved in providing information destruction services. Its mission is to educate business, industry and government of the importance of destroying discarded information and the value of contract destruction services. NAID was founded back in 1994 by its current Executive Director, Bob Johnson. Bob had been operating a successful shredding company and, like any successful new venture, you eventually attract attention and before you know it, you have competitors. Bob was becoming discouraged by what he perceived as just imitators. At the time, there wasn't very many companies that did shredding, so there was no rules or regulations for who or how one should start a shredding company, and time and time again, Bob would witness a company's lack of security and proper equipment and guidelines for providing the safest and most secure way of running a secure destruction company. So, Bob Johnson decided that he would contact the shredding companies that he knew and respected throughout the United States and try to form a trade association that would basically lay down the principals, the ethics, and moral behavior that one should adopt to gain the trust and confidence of the business community. By doing so, this would provide a blueprint for shredding companies to use so they could operate successfully for many years to come. So, they held their first conference in Phoenix, Arizona. They had just a little over 40 members and today, 15 years later, NAID has grown into a world renowned and respected organization of over 1,200 members and NAID's world headquarters is still based in Phoenix, Arizona. JOHN: Well now, what exactly is being shredded - what documents, what kind of information is being eliminated? TIM: Well, 22 years ago, when I first got in the business, typically that was, the majority format of records was on paper, and that could entail all different types of records, from insurance companies, banking, government. All businesses produce some type of records, whether it's employee files, payroll information, information on their customers, client lists, etc. You also have architecting firms that have blueprints. In the medical field, you have x-ray charts. Anything that business would use to document what they're doing is something that needs to be destroyed at some point in time, as it does have some type of confidential information on it. JOHN: Okay, now in this day and age with computer information, are we eliminating other things besides paper records? TIM: Yes, we are. What has transpired over the years as more companies have provided a service, there has been a need for other types of materials that need to be destroyed. For instance, you have companies that produce manufactured products that sometimes are absolute or they might have a defect in them and they get recalled and the cost of reproducing it or repackaging it to resell is cost prohibitive, so it's easier for them and cheaper to actually destroy the product. Sometimes, you get test runs, depending on what it is that they are actually manufacturing, that don't necessarily come out as a complete product. They might be prototypes and end up having to destroy those things. JOHN: Okay, what about this information, Tim, is there a time, length of time that a company will keep pertinent information before they send it to be destroyed? TIM: Every company should have retention schedules for different types of documents, and the time frame on that can vary from anywhere from a year up to 10 years to indefinitely. And when the information comes to the end of its life cycle, it needs to be destroyed properly, so businesses are constantly destroying information on a regular basis. And the other thing that you have is the stuff that's being generated on a daily basis. A lot of companies get emails that they print out. It might just be notes that they're taking at their desk. It might be phone calls the receptionist was writing down. It might just be the bad copy they got on the copy machine. So, on a daily basis, businesses are generating information that they don't necessarily retain for more than a day's use, but at the same time they might have extra copies or bad copies that need to be destroyed on a regular basis also. JOHN: We are in the studio with Tim Oberst. He is the President-Elect of the NAID, which is the National Association for Information Destruction. Tim, what is the website for NAID? TIM: It's naidonline.org. JOHN: Wonderful. We are speaking with Tim Oberst of the NAID, and you're listening to the Profile Radio Spotlight. We'll be right back after these important messages. Please stay tuned. ANNOUNCER: Profile of Traverse City offers fast, accurate retrieval and archiving of documents and secure shredding with guaranteed recycling. Profile is HIPAA, FACTA and Graham-Leach-Bliley compliant. For more information, visit them on the web at www.gtprofile.com. Profile, the professional document manager. We now return you to the Profile Radio Spotlight, with your host, John Bentley. JOHN: Welcome back to Profile Radio Spotlight. In the studio via telephone, we have Tim Oberst. He is the President-Elect of the National Association for Information Destruction and also the owner of Ohio Mobile Shredding. Welcome back to the program, Tim. TIM: Thank you, Sir. JOHN: Now, we've been talking about the NAID and what's being destroyed. Let's talk a little bit about the benefits of a company joining the NAID. What are those benefits? TIM: Well, ironically, for an industry that's in charge of destroying information, that's probably the best benefit that one can gain from joining NAID is the information that it provides, not only for its members, but for the general public in general. Every quarter, we print a publication called NAID News, which is the association and the industry's only dedicated professional journal. It keeps our members informed on NAID programs and services. It covers what's in the news about information destruction. It will highlight legal and government actions and proposals around the world that impact our industry. We also provide marketing materials for our members. These are brochures that they can provide to their potential clients that cover different subjects. For instance, there's one on outsourcing your shredding, why it's more secure and less expensive than shredding it yourself. There's one that describes what the disposal rule is. There's a brochure that covers HIPAA. One that asks you why you should shred. And, there's another one out there that talks about the NAID certification program, and one that describes what our professional liability insurance program is. Another thing that NAID does for its members is that it maintains an ongoing advertising campaign. It will advertise in Healthcare Executive Information Management, the Journal of HMIMA, and other publications like Security Management, promoting NAID and its members. It also has articles that are published in journals of buying group associations, their testimonies to the interest in the information destruction and the information destruction industry. Several of these articles have already been published and there's more in development. Every year, we have a conference. The conference has grown to be the preeminent evident of the information destruction world. It's a 3-day event. This year's conference is being held in New Orleans on the first week of April. We'll have over 850 participants. It's an educational experience that benefits both the industry newcomers and seasoned veterans by providing ideas and insights to help improve their businesses. It's the industry's only dedicated trade show expo, which is held in conjunction with the NAID conference. It's showcasing the world-class products and services. JOHN: Now Tim, obviously there is a certification process. What is involved in that? TIM: Well, NAID has the only accepted third-party security certification program for information destruction and operations. The program is an example of NAID's continued efforts to improve and promote the information destruction industry and gain the wider recognition and acceptance that comes with it. It's another way that NAID's members can set themselves apart as industry leaders. NAID actually sets the criteria for certification. An impartial independent security professional conducts an actual audit. Information destruction companies obtain certification by submitting for critical review our policy and document destruction procedures, employment records, promotional materials, logs and paperwork to verify that we meet the certification requirements. Facility, security and monitoring systems for on-site destruction and off-site are checked out, including the equipment. There's also access control systems that must stand up to the auditor's inspection. To maintain certification, every company is audited annually by a third-party certified privacy professional. There's also random unannounced audits conducted throughout every year to make sure that companies are following the correct procedures on a daily basis. And, just last year, NAID developed a new certification program for members who offer hard drive sanitization services. Now, companies that have the need for a hard drive wiped clean can utilize the services of a NAID-certified hard drive sanitization company. JOHN: Now, Tim, what is this information destruction policy compliance toolkit that NAID has developed for its members? TIM: The toolkit is designed to help organizations develop their written information destruction procedures now required by law. Most organizations in the United States report that they currently do not comply with this requirement and therefore are at risk. The toolkit is the first and only publication to specifically address information destruction policy development with the goal of making compliance with the laws easy and understandable. The timing could not be better. The Federal Trade Commission recently reached a settlement with an Illinois-based mortgage company for discarding personal information without first destroying it, resulting in a fine of $50,000.00. And in the settlement, the FTC cited the absence of the required written policies and procedures as the basis for the penalty. It's obvious that law enforcement agencies are becoming more aggressive in requiring compliance with the information destruction regulations as they continue to struggle with the growing ID theft epidemic. Since last summer alone, there has been more fines and charges and penalties for improper disposal of personal information than there has been in the prior 10 years. And, for some organizations, the policy on information destruction amounts to a single sentence advising employees to destroy sensitive information properly before it's discarded. But in today's social and business climate, that simply does not provide sufficient direction to employees who are dealing with many forms of media from any number of sources. So, regulators and auditors, courts of law, the media and public sentiment are insistent on a more thorough approach to information disposal because of the potentially devastating consequences of improper disposal on people's lives. So, prior to authorizing a NAID's member representative to distribute the toolkit, NAID requires that they become oriented in its use, and only individuals who have completed the orientation are permitted to distribute it. So, the toolkit contains sample policies and procedures for training, authorization and instruction for the full range of conventional media forms, including paper records, computers, magnetic tapes, optical and micromedia. And, in addition, the toolkit provides sample forms, templates and other resources useful in implementing the policy. And, while the toolkit offers information destruction procedures for in-house information destruction, it also contains sample policies and procedures for selecting competent service providers. The NAID Information Destruction Policy Compliance Toolkit runs over 70 pages. It includes a CD, containing electronic versions and templates of all the sample forms, and it's available free of charge from your NAID member. JOHN: Well, Tim, that's a lot of information and it sounds like you've got a pretty thorough organization there monitoring the destruction of valuable information. We certainly appreciate you taking time out of your day to join us on the Profile Radio Spotlight. TIM: It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me. JOHN: Tim, before I let you go, why don't you give that NAID website address again, please. TIM: It's naidonline.org. JOHN: Excellent. Thanks again to Tim Oberst. He is President-Elect of the NAID, Association for Information Destruction. You have been listening to Profile Radio Spotlight. Have a great afternoon everyone. ANNOUNCER: The Profile Radio Spotlight is powered by vtalkradio.com. Radio for the 21st century.
Return |
||||||||||
|
|
