|
||||||||||
| Paper Shredders. [Paper Shredders]
A paper shredder offers the easiest way to obliterate a document and any concerns about
privacy. When looking for a shredder, you first should determine what [Paper
Shredders] type of materials will be shredded. shredding sheets of regular copy paper along with the occasional staple. Other companies may need a much sturdier model for shredding reams of computer printouts. Some high-end office shredders can handle paper clips, bound reports, microfilm and even computer diskettes. A second purchase consideration is the volume of shredding. When shredding will be conducted on an occasional basis, buyers should focus on how many sheets can be shred at a time. [Paper Shredders] A larger "Opening" reduces the amount of time a person needs to spend feeding the machine. Low-end shredders usually will accept only a few pieces of paper at a time, while high-end models can chomp 100-page reports without trouble. If the shredder will be used nearly continuously (for example, destroying computer printouts), the shredding speed will be important. This is the rate at which paper can be fed through the machine and is usually measured in feet per minute. This figure becomes less important when materials are manually fed, since almost no one will be able to keep up with a fast shredder. It should be kept in mind that shredder specifications can be unreliable. Specs can be exaggerated by measuring engines at peak power or by using lighter-weight paper. This makes direct comparisons very difficult. [Paper Shredders] A final buying consideration concerns the level of security you need. Depending on your need for security, shredders can turn documents into progressively smaller pieces. A strip-cut machine shreds paper into spaghetti-like strips. Widths vary from one-twelfth of an inch to one inch in these models. Shredder prices range from about $150 for a personal model to about $2,500 for a cross-cut office model. A small price to pay for peace of mind. Choose from a wide range of office paper shredders. We currently offer the Intimus brand of paper shredders designed to meet every office and home office need. They are built to last and perform well under pressure. A shredder is a machine that tears objects into smaller pieces. The most common types are paper shredders and garden waste shredders. There are also shredders capable of shredding optical discs. See: data remanence for disposal of magnetic media such as magnetic tape and hard drives. Paper shredders Paper shredders are used to cut paper into very fine strips or tiny paper chips. This is usually done by individuals or organizations to destroy confidential documents in such a manner that they are impossible to read. Privacy experts often recommend that individuals shred bills, account statements, and other documents to keep those who would use the items to commit fraud or identity theft. However, careless users of cheaper shredders can have their privacy violated despite this precaution. For instance, if a person simply shreds the documents and does nothing else beyond putting it in the garbage, all the shredded pieces can be collected by an investigator. Once collected, they can be reassembled in an attempt to discover the content of the documents. For maximum security, documents should be shredded so that the words of the document go through the shredder horizontally. Many of the documents in the Enron accountancy scandal were fed through the shredder the wrong way, making them easier to reassemble. Most paper shredders come with a waste basket of their own. Those that don't are built to fit over another waste basket. They range in size and price from small and inexpensive units meant for home use, to larger units used in business settings that cost several hundred dollars. These machines are classified according to the size and shape of the waste they produce. Strip-cut shredders use rotating knives to cut narrow strips as long as the original sheet of paper. These strips can be reassembled by a determined investigator, so this type of shredder is the least secure. It also creates the highest volume of waste. Cross-cut shredders use two contra-rotating drums to cut rectangular or parallelogram-shaped shreds. Particle-cut shredders create tiny square or circular pieces. Disintegrators and granulators repeatedly cut the paper at random until the particles are small enough to pass through a mesh. Hammermills and pulverizers reduce the paper to dust using a combination of rotating and stationary blades. There are numerous standards for the security levels of paper shredders, including: DIN 32757 Level 1 = 12 mm strips Level 2 = 6 mm strips Level 3 = 2 mm strips (Confidential) Level 4 = 2 × 15 mm particles (Commercially Sensitive) Level 5 = 0.8 × 12 mm particles (Top Secret or Classified) United States Department of Defense (DoD) Top Secret = 0.8 x 11.1 mm (1/32" × 7/16") (= Federal Specification F-S-001169 ?) United States NSA/CSS 02-01 = 1 × 4 mm |