Are you kidding me I thought recently, because for several hours, Dropbox, a popular service for storing documents and other files in the so-called computing cloud, allowed anyone to log into any of its 25 million user accounts using any password. The company tried to keep the glitch quiet but was exposed by a security researcher. No wonder concern about Internet security from Americans has jumped sharply in the past few months. Technology professionals are getting cold feet about moving more operations onto the cloud when poor corporate security practices are exposing customers to devastating identity theft and fraud. This vulnerability could stymie the Internet economy.

There is no fail-safe technology that is immune to hacking. Online security will evolve as hackers and security experts work continuously to outwit each other. Still, current standards are too low. Companies — and the government — must devote substantially more resources to security, making it integral to every new application, rather than patching it on as an afterthought. There are some signs of progress. Security experts are deploying a new worldwide system to identify Internet addresses that will make it very difficult to forge or spoof a Web site. In May, the Obama administration proposed legislation with sensible provisions to ensure that companies running critical infrastructure — like the nation’s power grid — have adequate systems to reduce the risk of an attack online. The proposal would standardize 47 state laws on breach reporting, requiring notification of customers whose accounts were compromised. This could be a powerful incentive for firms to take security more seriously.

Other tactics are also needed. The Federal Trade Commission wants rules to force companies to minimize the information they collect from customers and to dispose of such data as soon as possible. The stolen Sony data, for example, had been on dormant servers for years. We are putting our lives in the cloud, as companies and consumers store everything from family photos to corporate business secrets on remote servers. Beefing up online security is of paramount importance.

According to a recent survey, American businesses are looking for affordable and flexible options when it comes to recycling.

Many Recycling destruction firms have contracted with Coral Gables, Fla.-based AJR & Partners to conduct research into the recycling habits of U.S. businesses. The results will help determine how companies such as The File Room headquartered in Saint Louis, MO can help to improve business recycling rates in the country.

According to the Survey, 90 percent of American businesses practice some form of recycling and 10 percent do not. Fifteen industries, including manufacturing, electronics, software, medical services, finance, insurance, real estate, education, retail and public administration, were represented by survey participants from all over the country. More than two-thirds of the survey respondents reported that their annual revenue was less than $25 million, while 20 percent said their annual revenue was less than $1 million.

According to the survey: 

• Ninety percent of respondents either don’t know how their data is destroyed or have insufficient data destruction practices for protecting their organizations from data leaks or hackers retrieving sensitive information.
• The top three waste streams with recycling rates greater than 80 percent are batteries, electronics and lamps.
• Slightly more than half (51 percent) of firms that do not recycle say their customers, vendors and employees want them to recycle; however, 72 percent of these companies say the primary reasons for not having a recycling program in place is the lack of options or the cost.
• Forty-five percent of respondents that do recycle said their cost of doing business has decreased by having a recycling program in light of lower insurance premiums or reduced liability for the company.
• About 40 percent of all companies responding reported a need for more access to recycling options. 

“The 2010 Survey was important for us to learn how to improve customer service and better communicate the benefits of recycling,” says Rita Grant the General Manager of The File Room. “Since options and flexibility are important to most companies, we are able to provide those solutions while helping to reduce operational liability and regulatory costs.” 

More than two-thirds (72 percent) of the companies that do not recycle say it is either too costly to do so or they do not have available options in their geographic region. One-third of the companies that responded say they do not recycle because there is no law mandating it.  

Slightly more that half say their customers, vendors and employees want them to recycle, but the options are not there for them to meet those demands. Ten percent of respondents that do not recycle say they have no interest in it. 

The top three obstacles to increasing recycling among those respondents that do so are space limitations for recycling containers, the inconvenience of separating materials and the cost.  

Thirty-five percent of respondents say more training is needed to implement recycling programs for different types of waste streams.  

Close to two-thirds (63 percent) of respondents that recycle say they do not know how data on their electronic devices are destroyed. More than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents say they delete files off of their computers.  

“Just deleting files does not completely destroy the information, but simply moves the files to an area of the hard drive that is not visible to the average person,” Rita says. “The File Room specializes in electronic waste by completely destroying all data contained on data storage devices collected from clients and ensuring that disposal adheres to our zero-waste-to-landfill policy.”  

AERC Recycling Solutions operates five electronics processing facilities, also known as Com-Cycle, in five separate geographic locations. More information is available at http://www.aercrecycling.com/

Medical Data Breaches Prompt Calls for Stronger Patient Privacy Rules.

Federal officials are working to ramp up enforcement of existing medical privacy rules, but some experts say stronger protections are necessary to ensure the security of health data, the New York Times reports. According to data on a federal website, at least 7.8 million people have experienced a breach of their medical data within the last two years. In addition, Health and Human Services reported that the agency had identified dozens of vulnerabilities in systems designed to protect patient data at seven large hospitals. The Obama administration already has imposed penalties for violations of HIPAA privacy and security rules. In addition, HHS’ Office for Civil Rights recently levied its first civil penalty under HIPAA. Despite these efforts, some experts are calling for tighter regulations on health data security. 

Wes Rishel, a health care analyst and adviser to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT said, “Your ability to control access to your health information is a horse that is already out of the stable. What is really needed is legislation that controls the use of such medical data” (New York Times, 5/30/11). 

Communication is the lifeline of every small business as we all know.

Gone are the days when you would have to fly down to another city if you had a client meeting. Modern technology makes it possible to communicate using email, fax, video conferencing, instant messaging and other such electronic media, besides the phone. However, a majority of the communication still takes place in writing, and has to be captured and stored in the form of documents. As documents carry crucial business related information, keeping them safe should be your top priority. This article gives you some small business advice on how to keep business records and store documents safely.

In spite of technological advances, most businesses still depend on paper to record, store and manage information. As a small business grows, it tends to accumulate tens of thousands of documents of various kinds over the years; e.g. books of accounts, invoices, copies of checks, statements, agreements, letters etc. For many of the documents, multiple copies are made and filed away only to be forgotten about. The documents are stored in a document archive or at an off site location like The File Room in Saint Louis, MO. In fact, storing documents in paper form could be dangerous in certain situations, some of which are discussed below. So then, how to keep business records secure? Switch to electronic document management – there are compelling reasons to do so. 

• Immune from wear and tear: Paper is vulnerable to adverse climate conditions as well as wear and tear caused by frequent handling. It can get moist, soiled and even get destroyed in case of exposure to rain or snow. When you stored documents offsite, you have even lesser control, as the conditions might not be as favorable as in your own office. As digitally stored documents are not vulnerable to wear and tear, it is far better to store documents like customer data, contracts, and accounts etc. in electronic form.
• Easy backup and retrieval: You may ask,”In the event of a natural disaster, even computers can malfunction or be destroyed completely. How would my documents stay secure in such a situation?” It is very easy to back up documents online. Most Windows-based document management software allows you to do this. In case of a disaster, as soon as your computers are back up, you can retrieve your documents in just a few clicks. There are several online backup services with inexpensive plans you can choose from. It works out far cheaper – and more secure – than having to build your document archive all over again. In fact, you can easily create multiple copies/backups of all your electronic documents – something which would be very expensive or almost impossible to do with paper documents.
• Maintaining business continuity: As it is very easy to back up documents stored electronically and retrieve them quickly, in the event of a disaster your small office can get back to work with hardly any time lag. This creates a favorable impression of your business in the eyes of customers, vendors and other parties you deal with. They feel confident doing business with you because they know that even if a disaster strikes, their records are safe with you.

In fact, if you store documents in electronic form it almost makes them permanent and indestructible (unless you choose to destroy them or have not backed them up). Switching to an electronic Document Management System (DMS) is possibly the best small business advice you could ever receive on how to keep business records safe other than storing the items in an off site record management facility.

As a Record Manager you have to think not only about hard copy storage and destruction but about items that stored daily on your servers – your computers and yes now your phones. Technological innovation, tighter regulation, and a variety of new content channels have all increased the demands placed on electronic archives. Today, archives must address a range of challenges that go beyond its traditional function as a storage facility for email. Archives must serve multiple purposes across all enterprise content, which includes deriving value from information, automating business processes and facilitating compliance and eDiscovery. Therefore, archiving today requires advanced strategy and technology to help you be intelligent about how you manage your enterprise content.

There are many issues that The File Room has to take into consideration as they help companies develop and implement a very specific archiving policies and practices, including:

• Handling all document types and formats, including email, rich media and social media
• Auto classification
• Retention Management and Content disposition
• Corporate governance and Legal mandates (federal/state/local laws and industry regulations)
• Legal holds
• The impact of the Cloud
• End user access and Mobility

These are just a few elements that face all record managers today, issues that we did not have to face 10 years ago or even 5 years ago for that matter. So the questions are: have your reviewed your current policies? Do have a written policy? Are you even following and enforcing that policy? These are critical questions that must asked and answered in the world we live in today so that you remain ready.