PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS
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SHRED TO BE SAFE: YOUR OFFICE SUPERHERO’S GUIDE TO STAYING OUT OF GDPR TROUBLE C ape on? Coffee in hand? Good. It’s me, your friendly office super hero here to save the day from one of the most underestimated villains in the workplace: poor document disposal. You may not see it lurking, but trust me, one unshredded document in the wrong bin can cause more chaos than a printer jam five minutes before a deadline.
Let’s talk about shredding. Not the rock-band kind, unfortunately, but the workplace practice that quietly keeps organisations safe, compliant, and out of very expensive trouble. In a world where GDPR is no longer a scary new acronym but a daily reality, shredding is one of those unglamorous best practices that absolutely deserves its moment in the spotlight. First, the serious bit (don’t worry, I’ll keep it painless). GDPR requires organisations to protect personal and sensitive data throughout its entire lifecycle - from creation to disposal. That last part is where many people slip up. It’s easy to focus on firewalls, passwords, and secure servers, but physical documents still exist. Invoices, HR records, client notes, printed emails, delivery labels - these all contain data. Toss them in a regular bin and suddenly you’ve created a data breach waiting to happen. And here’s the thing: most data breaches aren’t dramatic cyberattacks. They’re accidental. They’re human. They’re someone thinking, “It’s probably fine,” and walking away from the recycling bin. Spoiler alert: it’s not fine.
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