Document security is, or should be, a major part of the life of any business. There is no better way to ensure that your most private and sensitive papers never get into the wrong hands than by having shredders on hand in your office and by using them frequently. Although there are shredding services out there, it is highly recommended that you and any of your employees that regularly handle and discard the confidential info of your customers, clients or other employees have their own desk side shredders and that they be trained in their proper use. If you are currently in the market for a shredder or shredders for your office, you may be a little confused by some of the terms that the manufacturers use. One of the aspects that can be hard to decipher is the security level of a given machine. Here, we discuss the six levels of shredder security.
Level 1: This is designed for low level document destruction, such as general internal documents where nothing especially confidential is shared. The strips that are created range from three eighths of an inch to a half inch. Cuts can either be straight, or cross cut.
Level 2: When you regularly need to destroy sensitive company information or personal documents, you will need a machine that is capable of level 2 security. In straight cut machines, this means that the strips of paper that are produced are one eighth to one quarter inch wide. For cross cut machines, the dimensions are as small as three eights of an inch by an inch and a half.
Level 3: When the personal or business documents you need to destroy are what could be considered confidential, you will want to find a machine that is classified as a level 3. To fit this category, a strip cut machine must produce shreds that are no wider than one sixteenth of an inch. For confetti cut models (another name for cross cut) this means that the shreds can range from an eighth inch by two inches to a quarter inch by two inches. Level 3 is the lowest security level that complies with federal regulations for the destruction of personal information derived from consumer reports.
Level 4: If you regularly need to destroy documents that are crucial to your company s existence, you will want to have a level 4 paper shredder on hand. Only cross cut machines fit into this classification, and they must cut documents into shreds no bigger than one sixteenth inch by five eighths of an inch.
Level 5: This is where we start getting into security levels that are required by government offices and for important research. The cross cut dimensions are one thirty second of an inch by seven sixteenths of an inch.
Level 6: This is the level of security that is for what the government would call top secret, and is required by agencies such as the NSA and the Department of Defense (DOD). Although these machines offer the highest security, they may be a little extreme and expensive for the needs of the average business. These shredders produce such small particles that they are slower and require additional oiling to ensure optimal shredding performance.
Author Resource:
Jeff McRitchie is the designer and Director of Marketing for http://www.mybinding.com .He has written over 500 articles on binding machines,binding covers,binders,laminators,binding supplies,laminating supplies,paper handling equipments,index tabs, and shredders.
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