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Written by: 12/5/2011 1:41 PM
In a battle of hot topic social issues, which is more important: "going green,” or information security and protection? One Minneapolis paralegal chose the former, much to the chagrin of the patients whose information she compromised.
In an apparent act of charitable giving, a paralegal working for a Minnesota law firm donated her firm’s scrap paper to her child’s school. I am sure she was imagining a hallway plastered with finger paintings and macaroni art, all made possible by the recycled paper she selflessly provided. She saved the planet and inspired the future artist’s—all at the same time.
Instead, she got in a fair amount of trouble when schoolchildren began to bring home their stick figure family drawings on printouts of patients’ personal medical records. All that donated paper was beautifully blank on one side and plastered with very personal and sensitive information on the other.
Surprisingly, though, this happens more often than you would think. Just a few years ago, there was a case of thoughtless in our local area where reams of paper were salvaged from a dumpster behind a local university—paper covered with student social security numbers, birthdays, and other sensitive information. And while it seems that no organization wouldn’t think any organization would be so cavalier with sensitive documents, there is often a disconnect when it comes to trash.
Here are a few of tips for anyone in charge of sensitive documents:
1) Just shred it. If you have any piece of paper with any piece of sensitive information on it, get rid of it when you are done with it. Shred it so that it cannot accidentally get trashed (or worse, stolen).
2) Don’t walk away from your shred bin without securing it first. Remember: it’s not gone just because you put it in the shred bin. In fact, sensitive documents in shred bins might even be less secure, since you’ve already forgotten about it and may regularly leave your desk (and bin) available for perusal. Try to lock it all away each time you walk away.
3) Empty the bin more often. You don’t have to wait until your bin is overflowing on the floor to make a trip to your central recycling unit.
Read more here: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/11/17/private-medical-records-used-as-scrap-paper-at-mpls-school/