It happens all the time; hackers and identity thieves dive into your trash and recycling to gather sensitive and confidential information. The odd thing is that things have really not been changing. While businesses encourage all their employees to recycle every time they can, they never discuss what to do with the information that is being recycled.

Compliance with international recycling standards, such as ISO 14000, could leave businesses wide open to hackers and fraud attempts.

David Macken, managing director of System Associates, a provider of e-Government security services, has warned that confidential information is not being safeguarded.

‘Individuals are being encouraged to recycle their paper at work, yet not enough thought is being given to confidential information,’ he said. ‘One visit from a tenacious hacker to the office recycling bins can often provide enough information for them to get straight to the heart of confidential information.’

Macken says even companies operating a secure disposal system are vulnerable.[more]

Tags: Computer Protection, Privacy