Many offices are conscious of the standards by which the PCI DSS determine that organizations should run, in terms of financial data processing, but many people still have to ask, what are PCI DSS compliant document shredding machines?

The PCI DSS or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a body created by some of the world’s leading financial institutions. This body has in recent years implemented and developed a list of requirements by which all offices that make use of credit card transactions to manage their organization need to abide by. These procedures guarantee that any records which the consumer releases to the firm is kept secure and safe and handled properly.

It is mandatory for all organizations to be PCI compliant and this is in the best interest of the consumer and the supplier as it protects financial records and reduces any risk of fraud and identity theft. There are sever penalties for firms who prove to be non compliant by the PCI DSS standards and the large fines could be extremely detrimental to a small organizations survival.

These all-inclusive rules are in place to ensure safe transaction processes, but also post transaction in the way that the papers and documents are disposed of. Any documents or papers which disclose the client’s name, contact details, financial information or social security numbers are to be destroyed before they are disposed of.

This fact may seem obvious but as dumpster diving is still legal in some places and the fact that laws state that if the dumpster is on public property then whatever the criminals may find inside is theirs. True criminals will also go to lengths to piece together shredded information as they know it must be of importance.

The shredders which are approved by PCI DSS are called cross-cut document shredders and these shred the records into extremely small pieces with dimensions in the area of around 1/4″ x 1- 1/2″, this small size makes them irreparable and absolutely useless should they fall into the wrong hands. Another benefit of these document shredders is that the paper is shredded so finely, it minimizes volume when it comes time to take out the garbage.

It is essential to dispose of any cardholder data in the prescribed matter as soon as your company has no further use for it. The rules state that the document destroying machine to be used must be a cross-cut document shredder or you can use a certified destroying service. It is not advisable to simply throw these documents away in the trash as they can be found by thieves and your corporation will also then be classed as non compliant and could face a hefty fine.

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Tags: Identity Theft