Is Document Storage the Weak Point in Data Security?
June 20, 2018
Every business is obligated to have some form of document storage. First, companies are required by legislation to keep corporate documents, particularly financial records, for set periods of time. Second, they are also contractually obligated to maintain records and protect the privacy of their customers, suppliers, and employees.
But you probably know all that. You practice data security by having a records management system, you have space set aside in the workplace for document storage and you use certified shredding and recycling of confidential documents
How On-Site Document Storage can Result in a Breach of Your Data Security
Considering the number of obligations a business has to properly store documents, and the requirements they must follow to maintain data security, storing documents on-site is a massive responsibility.
If your business does not have all, or even any, of the following standards, practices, and procedures in place surrounding document storage, it can become the weak point in your data security.
1. A Comprehensive and Active Document Destruction Schedule
If just a single document is destroyed too soon, it can create havoc in many ways. Primarily, internal and government audits may not have the documentation to support what’s in your books.
2. A Document Control System
Each time a document is removed from storage, the information on it is at risk of security threats. If that document is photocopied, the threats can increase exponentially.|
3. Written Data Security Policies
The rules for storing, retrieving and returning corporate documents must be determined and spelled out in a comprehensive policy.
4. Document Storage Training
It’s one thing to have a solid data security policy, but it must also be part be part of the ongoing training for anyone who stores and/or uses stored documents to be effective.
5. A Person or Department Responsible for Secure Document Storage
The third part of having a policy, and training employees to understand it, is to make someone or a group of people responsible for ensuring it is followed.
There is an option. Secure, offsite document storage can relieve your company of the responsibility of safeguarding documents on-site. Contact us here at Papersavers to learn more
