How Are Top Secret Document Discarded? Asks ABC Office.

KAYSVILLE, Utah, June 24, 2006 – As in any office or home environment, bills, receipts and other personal information eventually gets old and obsolete and must be properly destroyed. What should be done if the documents are top secret? One of the older methods of destroying sensitive information is to burn it. Although burning paper will turn it into unreadable ash, burning papers can get messy, labor-intensive and can pollute the air. What other alternative is there? The answer to this question is the high-security paper shredder.

The government, U.S. military and Pentagon have a need to destroy sensitive material. Whether it is in an office or in the war field, it is important to keep top-secret documents out of the wrong hands. High-security shredders ensure that top-secret data is never seen outside the circle of authorized personnel. Although the U.S. military is the biggest consumer of top-secret shredders, large corporations also find the need to shred sensitive documents using sophisticated shredding methods.

Top-secret shredders have changed a lot over the past five years. Five years ago level 5 shredders were being used to destroy secure documents. Particles that came out of the machine averaged about 1mm x 11mm in size. Although undecipherable to the naked eye, it was discovered that a high-powered microscope could still be used to read top-secret data. Because security for the U.S. government has increased since September 11th, a new security level has been introduced. The level 6 is now the only shredder approved for shredding top-secret documents.

Level 6 shredders (http://www.abcoffice.com/shred7.htm) leave paper in particles that average 1mm x 4mm in size. Some level 6 shredders can chew a document up into particles as small as 0.07mm x 2.6mm, which is a little bigger than dust. Because paper is shredded into such small particles, a high-security shredder cannot shred as much paper at once as more traditional cross-cut shredders. This is because the shredder teeth are much closer together, creating a lot of resistance as the paper is shredded. Because high-security shredders shred less at a slower speed, they are not for everybody.

As top-secret data moves from paper to electronic format, it is now becoming increasingly important to destroy digital data as well. Hard drive shredders turn computer components into scrap metal. CD shredders take a disk containing data and shred it into un-readable pieces of plastic (http://www.abcoffice.com/shred_cds.htm). Many CD shredders can also shred security cards and floppy disks. The need to destroy top-secret data will never diminish, nor will the shredders that are needed to keep that data out of the wrong hands. To read more about the different security levels, feel free to read ABC Office’s paper shredder guide: http://www.abcoffice.com/shredder_guide.htm#security.

For further information, please contact David Stuart, Marketing Supervisor of ABC Office, 1-800-658-8788, info@abcoffice.com.