Applying to College: What Happens to Your PII Once You’re Accepted?

April 27, 2021 at 1:50 pm by SEM

College applications. For a lot of people, just reading those two words can bring back a swarm of flashbacks of awkward college essays, endless SAT prep, and countless hours spent anxiously awaiting that giant envelope announcing your acceptance into your dream school. While this time can be exciting for many people, it’s also a time spent filling out application after application detailing all your personally identifiable information (PII). But what happens to those applications, and that information once you’ve been accepted?

Colleges and universities are bound by a federal law called “The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act” (FERPA), which ensures that the information provided by and in relation to students is kept private. The law also states that if the information provided is no longer needed, that it must be discarded in a manner that securely protects the information.

For context, FERPA is administered by the Family Compliance Office in the US Department of Education and applies to all educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under any program administered by the department. Private schools at the elementary and secondary levels generally do not receive funding and are therefore not subject to FERPA. Private post-secondary institutions, however, generally do receive funding and are therefore subject to follow all FERPA guidelines and regulations.

While FERPA accounts for a variety of issues such as access to education records, amendments to and disclosure of records, it also makes provisions and guidance on the protection of the information. It is within this segment of the law that institutions are obligated to protect the privacy of the data and to effectively destroy or eliminate data that is no longer needed in a controlled and secure manner.

How is this data destroyed?

Personal data resides on many forms of media, including but not limited to paper, hard drives, data tapes, optical disks, and more. Paper documents can easily be destroyed by feeding the end-of-life documents into a paper shredder. Many institutions use in-house cross-cut paper shredders for this purpose while others may deploy an outside service to shred the paper. If an office or institution utilizes an outside service to destroy their paper documents, they are usually stored in a locked cabinet or receptacle that only the outside service has access to. While these documents are securely stored in the meantime, SEM will always recommend in-house data destruction to ensure secure destruction. By opting for a third party vendor to handle your end-of-life destruction, the number of safety risks can be immeasurable. It can be far too easy for an ITAD vendor to mishandle, misuse, or even lose drives and/or paper when in transportation, being sorted by staff, and in the actual acts of destruction and disposal. (Some third party vendors have even been known to sell the data they are given to online third parties!)

Unfortunately, many college applications are now submitted virtually through applications like CommonApp and through institutions’ online portals. This means that the destruction of their electronic media is a bit more challenging. Again, there are outside services that perform this function, but they do not come without their own set of consequences. For hard drives, it is best practice to degauss any end-of-life drive prior to destruction. SEM degaussers use powerful magnetic fields to sanitize the magnetic storage media which renders the drive completely inoperable. This can in turn potentially save an institution more time and money in the long run by preventing a breach of any kind and ensuring their applicants’ PII stays safe.

At SEM, we specialize in providing secure and effective in-house solutions to numerous educational facilities around the country. We have an array of various high-quality NSA listed/CUI and unclassified magnetic media degaussers, IT crushers, and enterprise IT shredders to meet any regulation. Any one of our exceptional sales team members are more than happy to help answer any questions you may have and help determine which machine will best meet your institution’s destruction needs.

Destroying Dog Tags/ID Tags Requires a Tough Shredder

April 12, 2021 at 3:33 pm by SEM

With the announcement by the Army that they will stop putting social security numbers (SSNs) on dog tags, the question comes up – how can we get rid of the older ones that have SSNs on them?

Shredders are optimized to destroy specific materials, like paper, optical media, or rotational hard drives. Metal items, especially in large quantities, were never part of shredders initial design. Metals put significant strain on the cutters in a shredder, and are highly abrasive. The hardness of metals also means high stress on the drive mechanisms that turn the cutters, since they lack the flexibility of paper or the fracturing quality of plastics.

Modern paper shredders typically use rubber belts and plastic gears as a drive system. Paired with sensors and electronic controls, they are reliable and cost effective for paper document and optical media shredders. For metal items, like dog tags, metal credit cards, and license plates, something much more rugged is called for.

Very few office shredders are appropriate for dog tag shredding, which is why SEM has introduced the IDShred product line. These three machines, which consist of the Model 0201, DS-400, and 1012/5 Disintegrator, offer three different solutions for destroying IDs with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) like dog tags, licenses, credit cards, CAC IDs, and more.

Here’s the breakdown of what each of these devices in the IDShred line can destroy:

SEM Model 0201: Plastic CAC IDs, licenses, credit cards, and badges at a low volume in an office space.

SEM Model DS-400 Disintegrator: CAC IDs, licenses, plastic and metal credit cards, badges and dog tags at low volume for an office space or open area.

SEM Model DS-400 Mixed Media Disintegrator

SEM Model 1012/5 Disintegrator: CAC IDs, licenses, plastic and metal credit cards, badges and dog tags at a high volume for larger environments.

1012-disintegrator — SEM Model 1012 Disintegrator

Shredding these items is doable in an office environment, you just need the right machine. Reach out today to learn more with our online information/quote request!

Asking the Right Questions when Buying a Shredder

December 10, 2020 at 2:02 pm by SEM

How many times have you walked into a store looking for a particular item only to find too many varieties? For instance, you need a particular pencil for a certain project you are working on; you aren’t sure if a mechanical pencil or an old fashioned number 2 pencil will work. Or, if you decide to go into a car dealer to buy a new vehicle you may have several questions to ask the salesman. You will want to do your research to decide what type of vehicle to purchase and what questions to ask. Buying a shredder can be similar, even if it may seem like a straightforward product line. So it is best to prepare and you should know which questions to ask before heading in!

The first question to ask is; what kind of shredder do I need to meet my security requirements?

There are basically three different kinds of shredders. All three produce different shred sizes.

The first is a basic STRIP-CUT shredder. It will shred the paper into strips that are usually the length of the paper shredding. The second is a cross-cut which further cuts the strips into smaller particles. The question to ask here is; how secure do I want to shred my information? A strip cut shredder will cut the paper into usually 1/4 inch or wider strips by the length of the paper.These can be easily put back together. Will these strips give you enoughsecurity? If not then:

A CROSS-CUT shredder (SEM Cross Cut Paper Shredders) will further cut the paper-length strips into smaller strips (i.e. 1/4” by 1-7/8”). While still possible to reconstruct the paper, it is highly unlikely. Again ask yourself…will this give me enough security? If not then:

A HIGH SECURITY CROSS-CUT shredder is regulated by the National Security Agency (NSA) to shred particles no larger than 1 x 5 millimeters in size. This is
basically the size of a pencil mark. These particles have been determined by the NSA to be terminal destruction. This means they can’t be reconstructed by any method in any way. Learn more about SEM High Security Shredders.

Now that you know the different types of shredders it’s important to know a few other additional points. What is the volume of media that needs to be destroyed? Just a few pages here and there or a consistent flow every day of information?

Additionally, location is important – knowing what size space you are working with is key to finding the correct shredder for your office or space. You may even come to the conclusion a bigger solution is needed, like a SEM paper disintegrator!

Finally, check to see if you have to meet any data destruction regulations or requirements. Do you need to meet the previously mentioned NSA standard? Does the machine have to be HIPAA compliant? Finding out if your line of work or industry has regulations is also an important thing to know ahead of time.

Always do your homework in order to know exactly what questions to ask your security professional before buying a shredder, or any product! We at SEM are ready to answer any questions and are the security professionals and have been for over 50 years. Contact us today to learn more.

Good, Better, Best: Hard Drive Destruction Solutions for State and Local Governments

May 11, 2020 at 9:33 am by SEM

There are many different options in the market place to destroy hard drives. Everything from erase software, to degaussers, to many different forms of physical destruction. So the question becomes “What is the best solution for me”?

When it comes to destroying hard drives for State and Local Governments, most experts agree the best and most secure method is to degauss the drive and then use some form of physical destruction. While this combination solution is the best method, there are others that are effective that only require one step. Here are some ideas:

GOOD

Physical Destruction

For most State and Local Governments, this is an entry level destruction option. You can use either use a crushing method such as a SEM Model 0101 Hard Drive Crusher or for added security, shred the drives using the SEM Model 0300 HDD Shredder.

SEM 0101 Hard Drive Crusher

The SEM Model 0101 hard drive crusher destroys all hard drives regardless of their size, format or type (up to 1.85” thick), including drives found in laptops, desktops and server systems. The Model 0101 has been tested by the NSA and is listed by the NSA as the highest performing HDD punching device making It suitable as a physical destruction solution of the DoD mandated Degauss and Destroy process. Check out a video of the 0101 here.

SEM 0300 Hard Drive Shredder

When it comes to the fast, safe, easy destruction of hard drives, nothing outperforms the SEM hard drive shredder line, including the SEM Model 0300. This slow speed, high torque shredder uses specially designed saw tooth hook cutters to chew up about 8 hard drives in a minute that produce a 1.5” wide particle size. That’s just 7.5 seconds per drive. The unit is designed for an office environment and plugs conveniently into standard wall outlets. Check out a video about the 0300 here.

BETTER

Degauss and Destroy

For a higher level of security, State and Local Governments may want to consider the two step process of erasing data with a degausser and destroying the media with a crusher. This would give you peace of mind that the drive has been degaussed, which renders the drive completely useless. Once the drive has been sanitized, additionally physically destroying the media makes it inoperable to 100% ensure no information can ever be accessed again. Below is our most popular option.

SEM EMP1000-HS and SEM Model 0101 Crusher

The SEM EMP1000-HS is a compact, portable, and powerful electromagnetic degausser that erases the highest coercivity magnetic media available today without the use of any adapters for onsite erasure and declassification. The Model EMP1000-HS degausser has been evaluated by the NSA and is listed on the NSA EPL for Magnetic Degaussers erasing data on 5,000 Oe longitudinal and perpendicular recorded disk drives and 3,000 Oe for tape media (includes LTO8 tape). Learn more by watching a video here.

Pair this with the SEM Model 0101 shown above and you have a good destruction solution.

BEST

Combine the EMP1000-HS NSA listed degausser with the Model 0101 NSA listed crusher and the iWitness end-of-life documentation tool for a Degauss, Destroy and Document Bundle to completely eliminate high security data from magnetic media in accordance with NSA and DoD guidelines.

The added iWitness will allow for documentation of the destruction process, pairing with the EMP1000-HS that has a built in verification system that works out of the box with the iWitness.

If you need to destroy hard drives, laptops, phones or any other type of electronic media, SEM has a solution to meet a wide variety of budgets. For more information on contact us today!

Security and Recycling Don’t Have to be at Odds

December 21, 2019 at 3:01 pm by SEM

When people think of information destruction they typically would not associate it with being environmentally responsible. However, this is completely untrue. In today’s society there are many alternative solutions to help become more environmentally friendly.

Paper

When shredded into a cross cut or strip cut particle, paper can be put into the recycling stream and be used to make new paper. In the past, when paper was shredded into a classified particle, the only option was a landfill. This was because paper is extremely hard to handle once it is this size and it has little, if any, recyclable value.

Today we have the option of briquetting. Briquetting is a solution that compacts the confetti like paper into small cylindrical samples which is a 9:1 volume reduction. More importantly, a briquette is something that has recyclable value. These briquettes can be used by Paper Mills as filler for cardboard boxes and manila folders. Also, a study has been performed by Penn University in which they found that a briquette sample has the burn value of soft coal, with half the carbon emission.

Hard Drives

In today’s society we are storing more and more information on hard drives and other forms of media. Because of this, there has been a large demand for hard drive shredding. After being shredded, you may think that the end particle is useless and wonder what to do with it. This shredded hard drive actually has a recyclable value in the aluminum, magnets and PC board. The market for this is always fluctuating, but you will typically see an average recyclable value of $.35-$.40 per pound.

Other Forms of Media

Optical Media – These plastics can be recycled

Floppy Disc – The metal hub and plastic outer casing has recyclable value

Blackberries/PDA’s – Once the Battery is removed, the plastics can be recycled

Computers/Printers – The CPU boards and plastics can be recycled

In the world today it is very important to become environmentally friendly and implement this any way possible. One thing I recommend is when you have something that you plan to destroy, check with a local recycling company because it may actually have a recyclable value.

The Case For Outsourcing Destruction

at 2:58 pm by SEM

Did you know that business espionage professionals consider a company’s trash dumpster to be the most available source of competitive and private information? This is due to people overlooking what they are throwing in the trash can and not taking information security as serious as it truly is. This is a major concern because any one document could contain important company information or employee information that is harmful if it ends up in the wrong hands.

Depending on your application, there are two options that can help increase your information security:

Option 1: Shred Service -Most commonly used for: Unclassified Applications

Questions to ask prior to signing a contract:

Who are the people destroying my information?
Are they a well recognized company?
Do they perform background checks on all of their employees?
What is the shred particle size?
Am I in compliance with my specifications?
Am I satisfied with the particle?
Is this cost efficient Am I overpaying?
Would it be more feasible to make a one time purchase to buy equipment?

Option 2: Purchase Equipment – Most commonly used for: Sensitive or Classified Applications

Questions to ask prior to purchasing equipment:

What is my volume?
Is this a constant volume?
Will I get a constant use of this machine or am I simply taking care of a purge?
Is this the right equipment for my application?
Does this fit my volume?
Does it have the capabilities that I need?

Although these options have been directed towards paper shredding, always consider that information resides on many different forms of media. There is equipment that is capable of destroying hard drives, tapes (all types), CD’s, DVD’s, floppy discs, zip drives, microfilm etc. So whether a shred service or purchasing equipment fits your application best – always make sure you evaluate your options and take the correct steps towards protecting your companies’ information.

DRM – Digital Risk Management

December 11, 2019 at 9:15 am by SEM

DRM (Digital Risk Management) is well known in the world of information security. It refers to a corporate or organizational strategy of how to minimize risk and liability by protecting a company’s or agency’s sensitive information. The DRO (Digital Risk Officer), the person who is responsible to manage and control the issue.

Most companies are implementing all kinds of cybersecurity measures to protect their sensitive data. Encryption software, firewalls and a variety of monitoring programs are deployed to stop, control, and monitor data as it flies around cyberspace. However, one place that is often overlooked as part of a good DRM is data that resides on end-of life media.

CSOs, CISOs and/or IT departments should have a plan in place on how to effectively eliminate data on end-of-life media. The emphasis is on the word “effectively”. While there are many software programs that erase data on storage media like hard drives, solid state devices, data tapes, etc., there are an equal number of software programs capable of recapturing the “erased” data. As such, the most “effective” way of mitigating the risk would be through the physical destruction of the media.

Be proactive – don’t wait for a breach!

As someone who has provided solutions to companies who had to scramble after an information breach, would it not be wiser to address this potentially catastrophic issue in an up-front proactive manner? Here’s an example:

Your data center is equipped with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of hardware and software. Every day, rotational magnetic hard drives, solid state drives and devices (SSDs, thumb drives, etc.), data tapes, etc. all holding sensitive data fail or it’s time to upgrade to a faster device. You pull them out and stick them in a corner. Just because they are no longer operational or that you ran a software erase program, you believe the data is safe. However, someone with the right equipment or software can (relatively easily!) retrieve data off these devices.

What to do?

If you incorporated a media destruction program as part of your overall DRM strategy and had the equipment at-site to control the process, you could implement a program that could “effectively” reduce the risk to virtually ZERO.

At SEM, that’s what we do. We offer destruction solutions to effectively eliminate data found on virtually all forms of media, and we have numerous major data center clients who trust their high security data centers ONLY to SEM devices.

For more information on any of our Made in USA products or a customized SEM solution, reach out to one of our friendly staff via chat, email, phone, or web inquiry. We are readying waiting to mitigate your risk!

Understanding LEED and how SEM can help you achieve certification

December 5, 2019 at 1:10 pm by SEM

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a third party certification program and the internationally accepted benchmark providing a framework for the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of high performance green buildings. (USGBC.org)

While most people know that SEM provides the intelligence community with NSA approved security products, most people do not know that SEM builds environmentally preferable security products that provide increased sustainability, energy efficiency, enhanced environmental indoor quality, and produce zero landfill.

In October of 2010, the U.S. General Services Administration upgraded their requirement for LEED Gold as a minimum in all new federal building construction and substantial renovation projects in order to move the government’s federal inventory into a more sustainable future. The US Department of State, FBI, and all major branches of the Department of Defense have mandated LEED certification levels. For more information, visit www.gsa.gov/sustainabledesign.

LEED is a point based system where existing buildings, new construction, and renovation projects earn LEED points for satisfying specific green building criteria. Within the seven LEED credit categories, projects must satisfy a number of unique prerequisites in order to earn points. SEM green destruction systems meet those prerequisites in several categories to earn valuable points toward certification levels. The more points earned, the higher the certification level a project will receive.

Certification levels are based upon points, and regional credits are another way LEED projects can earn “bonus points” based upon the importance of local conditions in determining the best environmental design practices. Zero landfill and recyclability of classified material waste are major factors of concern in most every region. Eco-friendly oil-less office shredders completely eliminate the impact of oil on our local environments.

There are three major LEED categories in which SEM green destruction products and services best apply in earning accreditation points:

Materials and Resource: During both the construction and operations phases, buildings generate a lot of waste and use a lot of materials and resources. This credit category encourages the selection of sustainably produced products and materials. It promotes the reduction of waste as well as reuse and recycling, and it takes into account the reduction of waste at a product’s source.

SEM briquetting systems for classified paper applications promote a stewardship of resources, providing a 10-1 reduction ratio of waste at source, zero landfill and zero hauling costs, and a recyclable, eco-friendly waste product additionally providing a monetary return.

SEM hard drive shredders and recycling services further provide for a secure recyclable waste product while providing monetary returns. SEM oil-less eco-shredders like the 1201CC are manufactured with built in lubricating renewable natural resources that eliminates the need for oiling throughout the lifetime of the machinery. This is not only environmentally-friendly, but saves cost of ownership as well.

Indoor Environmental Quality: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend about 90% of their day indoors, where the air quality can be significantly worse than outside. The Indoor Environmental Quality credit category promotes strategies that can improve indoor air as well as providing access to natural daylight and views and improving acoustics.

SEM utilizes ASHRAE filtration, which is an adopted measurement standard for LEED certification, on all industrial destruction systems. Briquetting systems further reduce dust by reutilization in the briquetting process. Our industry leading noise reduction package consists of MX steel sound enclosures and acoustical conveyor sound shields and tunnels that provide noise level reductions by up to 25 dBa at source.

Energy and Atmosphere: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings use 39% of the energy and 74% of the electricity produced each year in the United States. The Energy and Atmosphere category encourages a wide variety of energy strategies: commissioning; energy use monitoring; efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems and lighting; the use of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative strategies.

SEM energy efficient designed disintegrators utilize five blade solid rotors to achieve more efficient throughput and create greater cutting inertia with less horsepower than open rotor designs. Our eco-saver shredders are standardized with full auto shutoff, unlike normal sleep modes, for zero amperage draw when not in use. And briquettes produced from our briquetting systems can be utilized as an alternative fuel source, with 50% less carbon emission produced as compared to coal. They are also 100% recyclable, as opposed to loose paper shreds (recyclers typically will not accept paper shreds).

Understanding LEED and investing in green products are important for sustaining and protecting our environmental future, and also the right things to do. So, when considering your classified destruction requirements think GREEN and think SEM.

One Large Step in the Green Direction

November 29, 2019 at 4:17 pm by SEM

“We don’t want it; it’s tough to handle, it’s messy and there is little recyclable value.” I bet this is probably along the lines of what you’ve heard from recycling centers about taking your classified shred particles. I guess you can’t really blame them considering this confetti like particle can create a large mess with one drop of a shred bag.

Recently, the concept of briquetting has become very popular with recycling centers. Instead of sending the classified shred particles to a landfill, they are able to mix these briquettes in with their other bales of shredded paper, and send them in to be recycled.

This is an extremely important process in today’s society because of the positive effect it has the environment. By eliminating the process of sending your classified waste to the landfill, you are taking a step in the right direction. Depending on how much classified waste you produce, this could be a very significant decision.

On another note, we have also seen several customers implement the briquetting system to eliminate other costs. Some customers have worked with local recycling companies to implement a system where they work together. Due to the volume of briquettes this customer creates, a recycling company has offered to pick up the briquettes free of charge, provide the customer with free carts to collect the briquettes, and also pay them a small amount on the back end. This has saved the customer a significant amount as well as eliminated their container pulls and hauling costs! Although it may not seem like a lot at first, these numbers add up over time.

Team this briquetting system up with an NSA approved degausser and hard drive shredder and you have the ultimate classified base destruction / recycling facility. This puts you one step closer to being LEED certified!

Net Zero: SEM can Help with Army Solid Waste Goals

June 11, 2019 at 4:16 pm by SEM

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the US Army Net Zero Program, it is an environmentally friendly program that was designed in 2011 with an initial goal to strive for 25-Net Zero Installations by 2030. The term Net Zero refers to managing the existing federal energy, water and waste programs and turning them into sustainable practices for the future.

The waste programs approach is to reduce, reuse and recover waste stream to ultimately convert them to resource value so there is zero landfill throughout the year. By following these guidelines, the army’s goal is to eliminate the need for landfills, protect human health, optimize the use of limited resources and keep the environment clean.

Paper shredded to the NSA standard for classified material

So where does SEM fit into this? Although society at large is moving more into the digital realm for data storage, truth is many still prefer, or are required, to print out documents. In a classified environment, once these documents reach end-of-life, they must be destroyed in a way that meets NSA mandated standards. For paper, that means turning the material into a dust like particle.

Believe it or not, most Installations are producing over 100,000 lbs. of classified paper per year. If this confetti like particle could be recycled then there would be no issues. However, since the particle size is so small, there is little recycling value due to the mess it creates. This means that most of the paper is heading for a landfill.

But SEM has a solution, briquetting systems! A briquetting system is designed to take this dust like particle and pack it into a small cylindrical briquettes which creates a 9:1 volume reduction. Such a large volume reduction can truly save money in the long run with compactor/dumpster hauls and drop-offs. More importantly, once this particle is turned into a briquette, it is not only easier to handle but it can also be reused. SEM has found that recyclers have multiple uses for these briquettes that are ultimately better for the environment than going directly into a landfill.

If your facility is producing over a hundred thousand lbs. of paper throughout the course of the year, you may want to seriously consider a one of SEM’s disintegrator and briquettor systems. Don’t hesitate, feel free to contact us immediately and find out which system is best for your application: info@semshred.com!

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Author: SEM