Finishing off the blog we started last week, we hope your 2013 is off to a good start and have 2 more suggestions for new year’s resolutions to help make 2013 a year with decreased identity theft. 

#3. Give your computer a fresh start: There are all kinds of nasty viruses out there which identity thieves use to commit their crimes. The best line of defense against these crooks is to be sure that you have an up-to-date antivirus installed on your computer. Make sure all of the recommended patches are also updated and that your wireless network has a good strong password.

#4. Especially because its FREE monitor your credit reports. One of the best ways to nip ID theft in the bud is by monitoring your credit reports. You can do this for free at www.annualcreditreport.com . There are three major credit reporting agencies and consumers can receive one free report from each, every year. If you stagger your requests and pull one every four months, you can monitor your credit for free.

Again, here’s to a safe and happy New Year!

For more information on identity theft protection, visit www.hvshred.com

As we say goodbye to 2012 and welcome in 2013, we suggest you include some new year’s resolutions to help make 2013 a year with decreased identity theft.  In a two part series to kick off 2013, we have recommendations for making 2013 a year you steer clear of id theft.

Here are the first two examples of resolutions you can make to make sure your 2013 isn’t marred by a nasty case of identity theft.

1. Just because it’s a good idea anyway—and can be really cathartic, consider clearing out your wallet: Many people carry items in their purse or wallet that leave them vulnerable to identity theft. Take the time to remove your Social Security card, checkbook, passport, extra credit cards, and anything else with personal identifying information. If you want to take this one step further, make an inventory of what is still left in your wallet so that if it is stolen you will easily be able to notify creditors, take protective measures and obtain replacements.

2. More and more of our trusted vendors are forcing us to do it anyway-so take the intiative and change your passwords.  One of the best lines of defense against having an account takeover is a strong password. Take this fresh opportunity to change your old passwords and create stronger ones. Do not use words that can be found in the dictionary. Hackers can run a program that goes through the entire dictionary very quickly and crack any password which can be found in the dictionary. Use numbers, upper and lower case letters, punctuation in your passwords. Don’t forget that the longer the password, the harder it is to crack. Create different passwords on each of your accounts. If you have trouble remembering all of these passwords you can look into using a password manager.

Again, here’s to a safe and happy New Year!

For more information on identity theft protection, visit www.hvshred.com

If you follow this blog, you know we find Consumer Reports to be a valuable resource for reliable information.  While you are budgeting for your holiday gifts, we hope you are relieved to hear you can bypass the ID theft protection products on the market.  According to Consumer Reports, Americans spent $3.5 billion in 2010 to buy products that are claimed to protect their identity. 

Time has shown that do-it-yourself safeguards are just as effective as paid services.  Many of the purported ID Theft products have been fined extensively by the government for deceptive marketing practices–Capital One, Discover Financial Services, Lifelock and others.   Remember, you are eligible for a free credit report from each of the three reporting agencies every year.  If you spread it out, that’s one every 4 months.  You can also sign up for free online banking and mobile apps to monitor your checking and credit accounts daily.

The most important tool you have is vigilance.  Keep an eye on your accounts.

When it’s time to discard personally identifying paperwork, the most secure method is to shred and recycle the paperwork.  That one-two punch ensures your confidential data will not get into the wrong hands.  For more information on shredding and recycling services, visit www.hvshred.com

As we celebrate our 5^th full year of service, this week, we’d like to take a moment to thank our community for making HV Shred a company that has grown despite the poor economy. 

 How can HV Shred have added payroll and purchased 2 new trucks in the last 2 years?  Through the support of a community that is solidly behind “Think Local First” and because document security has become vital to businesses large and small.

Despite getting started in the worst economic times in recent history, we are proud to have been able to increase our payroll every year since our inception in 2008 as well as having now purchased our third mobile shredding truck.

We know worse than paying taxes is paying fines and losing the trust of customers barely skims the surface.  Lots of talk about taxes and the fiscal cliff but businesses need to make sure they are wary of one of their most important assets—their reputations!  Dumpster divers, deficit mired government agencies, and even networks on slow news days are all quick to capitalize on businesses that don’t securely dispose of their confidential paperwork.

Though the economy is supposedly on the rebound, the fact is, many people are still struggling and that too often leads to increases in criminal activity.  Also a fact, criminals tend to go for the easy score—like dumpster diving.  Businesses that haven’t taken steps to securely dispose of their confidential paperwork are not only at risk for huge government fines (Uncle Sam is looking for easy money too!), but also more damaging loss of trust and business from clients/customers/patients. 

Investing in data security is simply a necessity.

If sensitive data falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to fraud, identity theft, or similar harms.  Given the cost of a security breach—losing clients’ trust and perhaps even defending yourself against a lawsuit—safeguarding confidential information is just plain good business.

We are all in this together.  Every businessperson be they a lawyer, doctor, banker, insurance broker, or dog trainer is also someone else’s client or patient or customer.  These key principles are fundamental to protecting our local and global community from the pitfalls of private information getting into the wrong hands.  There is a wealth of information available at www.hvshred.com and www.ftc.gov    

Not to mention, all the shredded paper is recycled—helping support efforts towards more sustainable businesses practices across the board.  Already this year, HV Shred clients have helped recycle over 400 tons of paperwork.

First of all, our best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving!

Now, our annual public service reminder to shop safely over the holidays:

Many people will be using their credit cards more during the holiday season. This creates increased risk for identity theft. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you do your shopping:

* Empty your wallet. Only carry what you really need. Get rid of extra cards and absolutely any Social Security Cards.
* Keep a close eye on your mail. Statements and invoices you don’t recognize are a red flag for fraud.
* Check you credit card statements closely. It is easy to do frequently online.
* Shred all of the credit card offers that come in the mail.
* If you shop online make sure the site is secure (has an https at the start of the address bar).

Once again, at HV Shred, we thank you for your continued support and hope the season brings you good times with friends and family.

For more information on how HV Shred can help ease the worries and hassle of identity theft, visit www.hvshred.com

The time has come to pick up the pieces after the storm once again.  Last year it was Irene, this year it is Sandy.  Hurricane, tropical storm, or Frankenstorm–whatever you call it the weather phenomenon that swept through the Northeast the last week of October, Hudson Valley businesses are wading through a lot of water damaged paper.  

The answer to the most asked question this week is, “YES! We can shred water damaged paper”. In addition to being the most secure and environmentally friendly method of disposing of obsolete confidential paperwork, outsourcing to an on-site shredding service is all about making the disposal process as easy as possible. We can not only shred your wet paper, we will also do the labor of carrying the extra heavy paperwork up from your basement. As with all our service, there is never a need to sort out staples, paperclips, folders, envelopes, bank books, checkbooks, or message pads. Our 5/8 inch knives easily turn it all into bits!

Among the other highlights of using an on-site shredding service is that we provide a certificate of destruction which substantiates each client’s due diligence with the alphabet soup of Federal Regulations–all the more important as State Attorneys General are now empowered to levy fines for breaches.

Interestingly, your shredded paper could end up recycled into the very product used to rebuild–much of the recycled office paper is now going into sheetrocking products.
For more information about how we can help you securely dispose of confidential paperwork–water damaged or not–call (845) 705-7279 or email judith@hvshred.com

We hope you didn’t suffer any damage due to Sandy–if you did, please let us help.

Like it or not, the holiday commercials have already started running.  Since the holiday season also brings higher rates of travel and package delivery, please be wary of another identity theft scam.   These scams are typically through email with an alert notifying you about airline reservations or a package.  If you follow the instructions, you may end up downloading malware designed to take control of your computer and turn it into a spamming robot, harm it with a virus, or mine your files for financial information.  Following the link will take you to a site that looks real but is fake.  When you log in, it captures your user name a password so criminals can get into your real accounts.

Historically, those threats were limited to your PC, which should be protected with security software.  Today, so much is done via smart phones a door has been opened to “smishing” (a word play on “phishing”-short message service (aka texting) )  The best plan is to not open these emails and definitely do not open the links.

The Better Business Bureau named phishing as its top scam of 2011 and fake sigtes are more believable than ever.

Protect yourself by never clicking on a link to your on-line accounts through email or calling an account related phone number in a text message someone sends you.  Instead, type in addresses you know are trustworthy to track your travel plans and packages.

Travelling and receiving packages is a great thrill especially this time of year–let’s keep it safe!

For more tips on id theft protection, visit www.hvshred.com

Checking one of our favored alert sites, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) indicated we should all be wary of dating extortion scams.  The IC3 recently received reports regarding a scam that baits individuals into intimate online conversations and then extorting them for financial gain. The scam was initiated after the victims met someone online, such as on a dating site, and were asked to connect via a specific online social network. Shortly after, the conversations became sexual in nature. Later, victims received text messages, either containing their names, asking if it was them or containing a statement that indicated their names were posted on a particular website. The victims were provided a link to a page on the website that claimed they were a “cheater.” Photos of the victims and their telephone numbers were also posted. There was an option to view and buy the posted conversations for $9. Victims were also given the option to have their names and conversations removed for $99. Some were even told that once the payment was made, the information would be removed within an hour and the website would not allow anyone to post anything pertaining to the victims’ names again. However, reports do not indicate that the information was ever removed.

Our goal to is to keep all from falling victim to this or any id theft scam!

For more information on identity theft safety, please visit www.hvshred.com

Following up on another successful event this past June, as Chair of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber’s Green Life Committee, I am happy to share that our Fall recycling day will be this Friday, October 26th 10am-4pm at the Hudson Valley Marketplace (130 Salt Point Turnpike Poughkeepsie).

Flyer for October 26th Electronics Recycling

In June, thanks to the support of the local community, we safely and securely disposed of another 22 tons of unwanted monitors, printers, keyboards, VCR’s, batteries, cell phones, terminals, cables, fax machines, radios, modems, CRT’s, telephones, TV’s, CPU’s, copiers, typewriters and stereo equipment. We filled several more tractor trailers and box trucks and raised another $1600 for the Chamber Education Foundation. That brings us up to nearly 50 tons and over $3000 since we started doing this last October.

Businesses need to pre-register by calling Whitney Haddard at the Dutchess Chamber (845) 454-1700 ext 1000

Any questions, please also contact Whitney at the Chamber.

Looking forward to another great event!

For more information on electronics recycling as well as secure disposal of confidential paperwork, visit www.hvshred.com