“We have (and use) three of your shredders – all are rock-solid reliable, and an invaluable part of what we do. Indeed, we can’t do without them.”
—Don W., U.S. Military Client
“We have (and use) three of your shredders – all are rock-solid reliable, and an invaluable part of what we do. Indeed, we can’t do without them.”
—Don W., U.S. Military Client
For thousands of years, humans have recorded and documented history, stories, and their life experiences. These written records have transformed from cave wall drawings and papyrus scrolls to printed novels and Kindle books. With the transformation of the written word, the methods of destruction have also evolved. Let’s dive into some of the history of data destruction methods and some of the key players involved.
4000 B.C. Egypt: The Invention of Papyrus
Papyrus, the world’s first ever form of paper, was invented in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago in approximately 4,000 B.C. People began using it to document history, life events, news, and stories. With the inception of recorded information came the need to destroy that information, whether to prevent confidential information from being stolen or placed into the wrong hands or destroying information that was deemed inappropriate or blasphemous. When the need for destruction would arise, without modern day shredding technology, people were forced to resort to manual destruction of papyrus scrolls. Fire was also a viable option to destroy recorded information, as seen in the 48 B.C. destruction of the Royal Library of Alexandria and its loss of 500,000 scrolls’ worth of recorded history.
1909 New York City: Abbot Augustus Low’s Paper Shredder Patent
New York City-based inventor Abbot Augustus Low is known for his invention of the first ever paper shredder in 1909. Unfortunately, Low passed away shortly after filing the shredder’s patent and was unable to manufacture it beyond just an initial prototype. His invention was primarily intended to be used in banks and counting houses.
1935-1959 Germany: From Pasta to Particles
It wasn’t until thirty years later in 1935 when the paper shredder was actually first manufactured. Adolf Ehinger created the first real paper shredder as a matter of life or death; at the time, he was living in Nazi Germany and was being questioned about the anti-Nazi literature in his garbage. Ehinger created a paper shredder that mimicked a hand-cranked pasta maker to destroy the literature and was able to successfully avoid persecution.
After this incident, Ehinger added an electric motor to his paper shredder which he was able to market and sell throughout the Cold War in the 1950s. Once his machine quickly started gaining popularity, his company, EBA Maschinenfabrik, crafted the first cross-cut paper shredder. This newer model not only shredded the documents into strips, but also sliced them into smaller pieces similar to confetti to ensure extra security.
1940s: The World’s First Degausser
After the introduction of iron ships in the late 1800s, scientists and crew members soon discovered that iron had an interesting effect on compasses and magnetic fields. It wouldn’t be until decades later when they would use this information to create the first ever magnetic degausser.
Decades later during the early days of World War II, Canadian chemist Charles F. Goodeve was working for the British Royal Navy researching methods to disarm war mines. In 1939, a British naval shore was targeted by a German mine that, luckily, had been disarmed before causing any harm. After conducting research on the now disarmed mine, Goodeve and his team were able to discover that the mines were equipped with triggers that would detonate based on the surrounding gauss level. A gauss level, named after scientist and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, is a unit for measuring magnetic density. This discovery was major news back then as the British Navy was able to install electrical cables lining the circumference of their ships that would carry an electrical current, ultimately neutralizing the ship’s magnetic field. This first act of degaussing allowed the British naval ships to remain completely undetected by the Germans and enemy mines. It was this revolutionary technology that has led to modern-day degaussing of tapes and other magnetic devices.
1968: The Inception of Security Engineered Machinery
Korean War veteran and SEM founder Leonard Rosen created the first ever paper disintegrator in 1968 after the infamous Pueblo Incident. The Pueblo Incident occurred on January 23, 1968 when the USS Pueblo, a U.S. Navy intelligence vessel, was intercepted by North Korean patrol boats. In an act of desperation to protect national secrets, the Pueblo crew members began furiously trying to destroy the onboard classified information. Unfortunately, the crew was unsuccessful in their mission and were forced to surrender, leaving their attackers with free reign over the remaining documents.
In comes Leonard Rosen. This incident didn’t sit well with Mr. Rosen, a Korean War Veteran, who began to draft a better paper destruction method specifically for confidential and classified information. Within a matter of a few weeks, he had created the world’s first paper disintegrator. What makes the disintegrator different and more secure than a paper shredder is that it uses a repeating knife chopping process and screen that the particles must pass through. Disintegrator particles pass through the sizing screen in irregular shapes, sizes, and orientations and fill the waste chambers at different times, all of which makes it much more difficult to piece the now destroyed records back together.
Since 1968, data destruction methods have only become increasingly more advanced and secure. The commodified use of paper shredders has transformed from being solely in government buildings to now virtually every place of business and personal homes. Shredders have steadily gained popularity over the years due to infamous incidents like the Watergate Scandal in 1973 and the Iranian Embassy siege in 1979, and are now equipped to shred magnetic drives and other forms of optical media.
For over 50 years, SEM has been the driving force behind innovative data destruction methods and has laid the groundwork for end-of-life best practices. Today, we are the industry leader for electronic media crushers and shredders, and have data destruction equipment in every U.S. embassy, military base, naval ship, and government building across the globe. We know that the best way to protect federal and personal information is to conduct all end-of-life data destruction in-house with SEM’s state-of-the-art destruction equipment.
“Dave was exceptional! From the moment we met, he was very professional, friendly, and very easy to work with. We had issues with our disintegrator and Dave worked through everything to make sure we were up and running again. Dave walked me through the entire disintegrator and briquettor and he explained how everything worked in great detail. He showed me what he was doing and why. When asked if he was going to lunch, he replied that he was going to work through lunch to get us up and running — and he did! We hope that Dave is recognized by your company for his exceptional professionalism, work ethic, and commitment to getting the job done.”
—Federal Client
This new ISOO directive will redefine what it means to keep CUI data, and ultimately the American people, safe. While executive branches and agencies continue to move towards federally mandated and private sustainability goals, as well as update existing equipment to meet the new CUI standards, it is important to know that systems exist that can assist in meeting both targets in a cost-effective manner with the same end-of-life system.
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Tipping foil is used to enhance and secure financial institutions’ cards. The metallic ribbon is fixed on the card’s embossed characters, helping to bring out the embossed characters even more. This results in clearer alphanumeric characters that are easier to read. This ribbon also improves bank card durability, as it’s designed to resist daily wear and tear and to maintain plastic card quality over the years. They are like the “makeup” for the face of the card. Tipping foil is essentially stamped onto the raised lettering during the in-line vertical personalization process. What is important to remember is that the embossed, foiled letters are now reversed on the sheet of foil they were stamped from, much like a typewriter ribbon. The physical impression left behind on the foil is why it is so critical that tipping foil needs to be destroyed prior to throwing away.
However, this method of creating credit/debit cards is currently being phased out. Many years ago, numbers had to be raised and embossed on the front of the card so when it was run through a card reader, an imprinted image of those numbers would appear on a slip of paper for the customers to sign. But traditional magnetic stripes are well on their way out as “microchip” card readers are becoming the new way to pay. Magnetic stripes on cards contain all of the cardholder information needed to make a purchase or duplicate the card. As technology advances, so do the world’s best hackers, and the magnetic stripe is significantly becoming easier for people to steal data from.
The EMV® (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, after the three credit card networks that originally developed the protocol) credit and debit cards equipped with computer chips are now the global standard used to authenticate transactions. The data stored in a magnetic stripe is stagnant — it is how it is, and always stays the same. On the contrary, the chip in the card generates a unique code for each transaction and is only used once. If a thief were to copy the chip’s information to validate during a transaction, they wouldn’t be able to. No two transaction codes are ever repeated, so each code becomes useless following the completion of the transaction it represents.
The difference between contactless (RFID) transactions and chip transactions is the method by which the data is transferred. Radio frequency-enabled cards require the card to be within a short proximity of the payment terminal, rather than inserting the card into a cheap reader. EMV chip cards and contactless cards are both more secure than the magnetic stripe. Although, cards equipped with chips do not equate to fraudulent immunity by any means. NFC (Near Field Communication) skimming is where EMV-enabled cards can still be subjected to information being stolen. Near field communication skimmers utilize a wireless technology that allows data to transfer from a mobile device to a card reader within a short distance.
Consumers and organizations alike must properly shred their expired or useless cards that contain PII, whether that be in form of an EMV chip or residual printed tipping foil that still withholds information. Luckily, companies like SEM offer a host of devices specifically designed to ensure everyone has the opportunity to securely take control of their personal data and destroy it once and for all.
The Model DS-400 is one of our top multipurpose turnkey disintegrators. This powerhouse high security model was evaluated by the NSA, listed on the NSA/CSS EPL, and specifically designed to destroy metal cards and license plates. This device can also securely destroy classified paper and CDs as well as other unclassified media stored on smaller forms of e-media such as flash and thumb drives, solid state drives (SSDs), and SIM chips.
The Model 0205NANO is just one part of a revolutionary SSD destroyer duo. The NANO is a mobile crushing solution that was solely designed for the destruction of the world’s smallest forms solid state media. From Compact Flash Type 1 drives to SOIC-8 and SD cards to PLCC-32 drives, the 0205NANO crushes the SSD beyond recovery by the specially crafted and designed internal rotors.
The second solution in the 0205 SSD disintegrator duo is the Model 0205MICRO. Like the NANO, the MICRO was specifically designed to destroy a wide variety of other SSD media such as, cell phones, PC boards, IronKeys, small tablets, and more.
The key to understanding how to destroy something properly is by first having an understanding of how said technology works. A number of our disintegrators would also do the job for destroying tipping foil, EMV chips, SSDs, and various media, at a number of different volumes. We also have devices that can easily destroy tough metal credit cards.
Classified or unclassified, there’s a way to destroy it. Leaving data in a stockpiled room “unsure of what to do” with it is not excusable, and yet many still haven’t educated themselves further to see how their negligence is putting their lives and companies at risk. Mitigate those risks today and be smart when handling personally identifiable information (PII) with Security Engineered Machinery. We’re always eager to help answer questions and can assure you we will help you meet your destruction requirements.
It is typical for companies to focus more on the security of their digital network than on physical protection of documents and data. Physical security tends to fall by the wayside even though it’s fairly easy for criminals to go dumpster diving. If the organization doesn’t end up losing all important assets in a breach, it’s common it could still suffer from irreversible brand damage. In 2007, Radio Shack dumped more than 20 boxes containing personally identifiable information (PII) for thousands of customers. A man found rummaging through the dumpster found the boxes and reported it. Shortly following, the State of Texas filed a civil lawsuit against Radio Shack for exposing its customers to identity theft. The state’s lawsuit claims the company “failed to safeguard the information by shredding, erasing, or other means, to make it unreadable or undecipherable before disposing of its business records.” Cases like this are common, and identity theft has become a major problem worldwide.
The Recycling Myth
Many believe that recycling is a very different process from trash processing and somewhat safer in terms of data security. This understanding is far from the truth. People mostly understand that trash ends up in landfills where anyone could find sensitive material. At the same time, many people often think that recycling is safer for confidential documents since they will be destroyed and repurposed instead of being shipped to a landfill. In actuality, recycling is not transported securely. In fact, recycling trucks look like every other garbage truck, where documents and other personally identifiable information (PII) will be blowing around in the truck before being dropped off at the recycling facility. On average, recyclables sit on sorting floors from anywhere from 2-4 weeks before being destroyed. The remnants don’t sort themselves either; dozens of employees’ sort what the machines cannot and will have access to documents before they are destroyed. As opposed to destroying the documents yourself, there is absolutely no way of proving sensitive information has been destroyed when you send it to the recycler.
Protect the Customers and Employees, Protect the Business
Consumer privacy legislation has been increasing around the United States within the last few years. Recent laws such as the NY SHIELD Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are giving consumers more rights relating to their access and deletion of sharing personal information that is collected by businesses. These laws give consumers a large amount of freedom over their personal information, which could open up a host of severe penalties and lawsuits for companies that fail to comply with these regulations. This trend is also being seen in other nations such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and India’s Personal Protection Bill, and it is expected to continue on this uptick everywhere in the near future. Knowing this, there is a heavier weight on organizations to protect customers’ personal and secure information or the company will be at risk for mishandling said information and could be subject to harsh monetary penalties. Employees have the same legal right to privacy as customers and expect their employer to keep their information secure as well. At the end of the day, the stakeholders will pull the most weight, and it’s important to treat their information the same as how you’d want your own sensitive information dealt with/disposed of.
Secure Your Disposal of Records
Businesses have a choice when it comes to how they want to dispose of their paper records, usually weighing the convenience, cost, and legal risks involved with complying to their industries’ standards or regulations. In U.S. government law, secure disposal is required when a record contains classified, controlled unclassified (CUI), or personally identifiable information (PII) such as address, phone number, names, emails, social security numbers, and more that can be used to identify an individual. It’s easy to consider the cost when opting for a third-party shredding company, but can you really be certain that all the documents are being shredded? It’s impossible to tell. Despite widespread adoption of electronic health record systems, most hospitals still use both paper and electronic documents for patient care. Healthcare cyberattacks overall are on the rise, with nearly 32 million patient records breached in 2019. It’s crucial to find a balance between digital security and physical destruction in the workplace. Increasing communication between colleagues so they are informed of appropriate processes can help mitigate potential breaches in regard to disposing of information no longer retained by the institution.
No matter what the industry, at SEM we have many high-quality NSA Listed/CUI and unclassified paper shredders to meet any regulation. For those looking for an eco-friendly device that’s also listed on the NSA EPL for Paper Shredders, we recommend the Model 1201CC High Security Shredder. It was tested oil-free by the NSA for classified document destruction due to its specially designed cutting head that is also fully replaceable, lowering total cost of ownership. Destroying physical data in-house may seem like a costly purchase in the short term but could send up saving a company exponentially in the long run by preventing breach. With regular maintenance, a quality shredder such as the 1201CC can last a lifetime. We’re happy to help answer any questions concerning personal or regulated shredding needs.
Disintegrators are devices that were first introduced by SEM to the US Government back in the late 60’s and are now being used by the military, defense contractors, Fortune 500 companies and anyone that has the need to destroy specific types of information. Disintegrators would best be summed up as an industrial approach to the destruction of all types of sensitive data. Disintegrators come in various sizes from an office version to large volume units capable of destroying a ton or more paper or other media per hour to the standards of classified information in the government.
What is the life cycle of a disintegrator?
There are many disintegrators in the field today that have been in operation for over 25-30 years and are still destroying data the same way they did when they were initially purchased. Back then, the systems were very functional and worked well but did not have the bells and whistles or special enhancements like the models being offered today. Special sound enclosures, air systems and electronic upgrades are now available. The quality of the SEM disintegrator has not changed and one can expect the same durability as machines from years past.
When is it time to replace or refurbish?
One of the most common reasons why organizations replace disintegrators is their volume of sensitive data has increased and they can no longer meet production requirements. Everyone today is looking for ways to reduce destruction time and increase operational effectiveness. Volume has increased over the years for everyone regardless of the business you are in. The paperless office has never really materialized as we had expected. When the equipment can no longer meet throughput production, it just may be time to replace old reliable with a new piece of equipment. As a viable option, the old equipment can be traded in to SEM to defer some of the costs of the new equipment.
From an accounting standpoint, it might be at the end of its useful life cycle. The key here might also be the actual condition of the equipment. Does it make sense to refurbish it? What are the maximum capabilities of the existing equipment even with factory upgrading?
It might make more sense to refurbish your old disintegrator since cost savings can be substantial. Machines are typically sent back to the SEM factory for refurbishment and upgrading. At one time, machines came standard with three rotating knives. Now, as part of the refurbishing process, a new five bladed rotor is installed in each machine. This upgrade offers you the latest machine technology for SEM disintegrators. Basically, a five bladed rotor produces more cuts per revolution and increases the capacity of the old machine by 30% or more.
Refurbished machines receive repainting, relabeling, new cutting knives, and replacement of defective out of tolerance components including safety switches. They receive a final inspection and testing to new machine standards. Machines also receives a new warranty. This could very well be the way to go depending on your current volume and other factors.
For more information, please contact us today through our chat window or our contact page.
What is a sound enclosure?
A disintegrator, also known as an industrial shredder, is a high volume shredding device. These machines can shred high volumes of material like paper, optical media, data tapes, small e-media and more at speeds of up to 2,000 pounds per hour. However, the sheer power and speed of these industrial systems mean that some will require high performance fan cyclones waste evacuation systems. While these central destruction systems are designed for warehouse like environments, they can produce a great deal of noise and dust depending upon the volume and material being shredded.
A primary method to reduce the noise and dust is to house the system in an enclosure that provides easy access to feed to system and removal of the waste that is collected in waste collection bags. As the inventors of disintegrators in the late 1960’s, SEM continued to be pioneers around the product and developed a highly efficient sound enclosure for these very purposes.
Not all sound enclosures are equal.
The SEM sound enclosures are built for maximum sound reduction and dust containment. They are constructed with high quality steel using highly effective mineral wool insulation located between the steel walls. They include double insulated doors to gain access to system for waste removal and system maintenance. Glass surveillance windows to view the waste collection and solid steel insulated feed opening doors are also included within the double door configuration. These high quality air tight enclosures are modular in design for easy set-up and relocation if needed. They are fire retardant, weather resistant, easily adjusted to align to uneven floors and most importantly, reduce sound by up to 22 decibels at a confirmed STC-40 rating. They are both dust resistant and easy to clean.
SEM sound enclosures are customized to match the system being used. They also include powder coated walls, acoustically sealed doors and seams and a free standing roof allowing for easy removal of walls for system access if needed. This keeps the roof panel intact where ventilation filters and electrical wiring is housed.
Other market systems can be made from carpeted plywood and foam which are dust collectors and possible fire hazards. They are conducive to fire, rot, mildew, mold and possible collapse, and many time more resemble a wooden shed than something designed specifically to work with the disintegrator. They are not airtight or include any leveling agents for uneven floors. They do not include surveillance windows leaving the operator uncertain when waste collection bags are full. They are far less safe and because they are not modular, they are difficult, if not impossible, to relocate.
Summary
Sound enclosures are an important added value optional feature to a large disintegrator system. Their purpose is to reduce sound, contain dust and provide the operator with easy access to the system for waste removal and system maintenance. Not all enclosures are the same. SEM offers a solution that is highly effective, equally efficient, and most importantly, customized to maximize its capability. Learn more about our enclosures and reach out today to the team to have a conversation about if a sound enclosure solution makes sense for you.
SEM recently installed a classified data destruction facility at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany under the direction of EUCOM, AFRICOM, and the 405th Army Field Support Brigade. The centralized facility, in support of local operations, is a green operation providing for zero landfill and recycle of all materials. The facility includes an SEM Model DS1436 NSA listed dual stage disintegrator with trio briquettor for bulk paper destruction along with multi-media destruction equipment capable of destroying complete Laptops. Two SEM Model EMP1000-HS NSA listed high security degaussers, two SEM Model 0304 high volume combo HDD/SSD hard drive shredders, two 0202 Optical Medial destroyers, and an existing SEM Model DS1436 disintegrator provide total redundancy of all destruction capabilities. These devices provide a destruction solution for all levels of classified paper, optical media, and hard drives. SEM’s own Todd Busic, Ricardo Leon, and Don Donahue were on site to finalize the installation and provide systems start-up and training to staff. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday October 12th where Garrison Commander Col. Neal A. Corson officially opened the facility for operations. Special thanks to EUCOM, AFRICOM, DPW, and the 405th for working as a trusted partner with SEM to ensure timely and successful completion of this important project.