Security Shredding & Storage News Jul/Aug2012

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Volume 9, Issue 4

July / August 2012

Security Shredding Storage News

Serving the Security Shredding & Paper Recovery Markets Visit us online at www.securityshreddingnews.com

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From L to R, Ryan and Tom Funke showing the vehicles they use for document collection and medical waste transport.

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Document Shredding Companies Realizing Potential in Medical / Pharma Waste Collection

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BY P.J. HELLER

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n interesting trend has occurred in the past few years, as numerous document destruction contractors, many who already service medical offices and healthcare facilities, have expanded their services to include the collection and disposal of medical and pharmaceutical waste.

Although the business of collecting and disposing of infectious/hazardous waste can be a very lucrative one, entry into this market can be a bit more difficult than starting up a document shredding business. Nevertheless, with companies like Stericycle charging very high rates for the collection and disposal of such waste, document shredding companies stand a very good chance of claiming some of this business once they secure the necessary permits (required by their state and local government agencies) to collect and/or process medical and pharmaceutical waste.

“We’ve seen in several markets shredding companies extend into medical waste and the growth has been remarkable,” says Jim McGuire, president of Shotgun Capital Advisors, a merger and acquisitions advisory company in Southlake, Texas. “The medical waste industry is not very sexy. However, the margins and the exit multiples are extremely good.”

“The medical waste industry is where shredding was 20 years ago,” adds Tom Funke, president of Paper Tiger Shredding and MediWaste Disposal in Lincoln, Neb. “Shredding is a commodity nowadays.”

Getting into the medical waste industry,

however, can be a daunting experience due to federal, state and local regulations addressing everything from packaging, transporting and labeling to reporting, treatment and disposal.

While federal regulations from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency address medical waste issues such as transportation, employee safety and emissions from incineration, there are many regulations, that vary from state to state. Several states, including California, have their own set of laws and regulations for the management of medical waste.

Continued on page 3

Inside This Issue 6 Senate Bill Would Diminish Time Element for Reporting Data Breaches 10 State Goof Made Social Security Numbers Public 12 Increase in Paper Recycling Spells Jobs 14 Breaking Bad Reviews: How to Protect Your Small Business Online

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Document Shredding Companies Realizing Potential in Medical / Pharma Waste Collection PUBLICATION STAFF Publisher / Editor Rick Downing Contributing Editors / Writers P. J. Heller Production / Layout Barb Fontanelle • Christine Pavelka Advertising Sales Rick Downing Subscription / Circulation Donna Downing Editorial, Circulation & Advertising Office 6075 Hopkins Road, Mentor, OH 44060 Ph: 440-257-6453 • Fax: 440-257-6459 Email: downassoc2@oh.rr.com www.sssnews.com For subscription information, please call 440-257-6453 S e c u r i t y S h re d d i n g & S t o ra ge N e w s (ISSN #1549-8654) is published bimonthly

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Continued from page 1

“It’s very complex,” says Mary Ellen Lynch, who formerly worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is now a partner at The E-N-D Group in the Washington, D.C., area, which assists clients in understanding requirements for managing and transporting hazardous materials. “All 50 states regulate the management and disposal of medical waste in one way or another. “It’s not just picking up waste,” she adds. “It’s specialized.”

While document destruction companies have to deal with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, those privacy-related regulations are entirely different from picking up regulated medical waste, pharmaceuticals or other types of wastes from medical facilities, notes Alice Jacobsohn, director of the Healthcare Waste Institute, a policy-making group which is part of the Solid Waste Management Association.

“There’s no overlap [with the regulations],” she points out. “The market is not the same.”

The complex and oft-times conflicting regulations pose the biggest barrier for document destruction companies wanting to enter the medical waste industry, according to McGuire and others.

“You need to be astute when it comes to understanding regulations surrounding hazardous waste,” McGuire says. “To a large part, those regulations don’t exist in the shredding industry. Outside of that, there aren’t any other barriers to entry other than starting up a separate business or separate business entity and growing that business in conjunction with the existing shredding business.”

Rob Marshall of Marshall Shredding and co-owner of MedSharps, a medical waste removal and disposal company, agrees about the regulations.

“There‘s very little regulatory oversight in the shredding world,” he says. “One guy in a truck can go and start a shredding business. With medical waste, you have a lot of laws and record-keeping and permitting that you have to follow and adhere to. So it makes it a much higher hurdle to cross.“ Marshall Shredding, started in 2001 in San Antonio, Texas, already was providing document

shredding services to healthcare clients before it branched into medical waste.

“My customers kept asking me if I ever looked into it [handling medical waste],” Marshall recalls. “I had, but the leap was too great for me to take and to try to learn all of the regulations and formalities to do medical waste. I wasn’t prepared for that at the time.”

In 2009, all that changed, when Marshall partnered with Bill Jewett, who was just launching MedSharps in San Antonio.

MedSharps both transports medical waste and treats it in an autoclave, where heat, pressure and steam sterilize it, converting it from regulated medical waste to a municipal solid waste that can safely be disposed of in a landfill. MedSharps also treats medical waste brought to it by third-party transporters.

A similar scenario played out at Paper Tiger Shredding in Lincoln, Neb., when its numerous healthcare customers began seeking another waste company to handle their medical waste.

“Over the years, while providing document shredding and records management services to medical facilities, we kept hearing complaints from our clients . . . about the high prices, escalating fees and poor service they were receiving from their medical waste disposal companies,” says company president Tom Funke.

The result, Funke says, was the launching in August 2011 of Medi-Waste Disposal, which, like Paper Tiger Shredding, services clients throughout Nebraska, Iowa and northern Kansas. Those clients include hospitals, medical clinics, funeral homes, a tattoo parlor, dentist offices and even companies — much like Sunshine Cleaning in the motion picture of the same name — that provide cleanup services after suicides.

Having an established healthcare clientele for its shredding and records management services made it easier for Medi-Waste to provide medical waste services. It also allows Paper Tiger Shredding and Medi-Waste to offer bundled prices for its services.

Funke says that allows customers to get shredding and medical waste removal services for the same price they

Continued on page 5

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Security Shredding & Storage News Alaska DHHS Fined for Breach of HIPAA Security Measures

Sims Sets E-Waste Recycling Record in Guinness Book

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ashington, DC—Legalnewsline.com reports that the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights received a breach report from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services saying that a portable electronic storage device possibly containing electronic protected health information was stolen from the vehicle of a DHSS employee, as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. The result was a fine of $1.7 million by the federal government for violations of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Security Rule.

OCR found that DHSS failed to have policies and procedures in place to safeguard electronic personal health information; had not completed a risk analysis; had insufficient risk management measures; did not complete security training for its workforce members or comply with any other of the safeguards required by the HIPAA Security Rule.

Alaska DHSS must now have a corrective action plan in addition to the $1.7 million settlement and be monitored for ongoing compliance efforts. “Covered entities must perform a full and comprehensive risk assessment and have in place meaningful access controls to safeguard hardware and portable devices,” said OCR Director Leon Rodriguez. “This is OCR’s first HIPAA enforcement action against a state agency and we expect organizations to comply with their obligations under these rules regardless of whether they are private or public entities.”

OCR enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. The Security Rule protects health information in electronic form by requiring entities covered by HIPAA to use physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to ensure that electronic protected health information remains private and secure.

oseville, CA—Throughout the month of April, Sims Recycling Solutions held several collection events around the world in celebration of Earth Day, April 22, 2012. In the U.S., Sims held events in California, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Texas. Five of these locations satisfactorily met the Guinness World Records’ standards for tracking the amount of electronics received during these events, and together, successfully set a new Guinness World Record for the “most consumer electronics recycled within 24 hours at multiple venues.” These five record-setting sites included events in Dallas, TX; Long Beach, CA; New York, NY; Sacramento, CA and West Chicago, IL. With the help from approximately 80 people, Sims was able to collect about 80,000 pounds of electronic waste for recycling.

Sims also organized international collection events in Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, India, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden and the Netherlands.

“Setting a Guinness World Record is a remarkable accomplishment that required the effort of many dedicated individuals, particularly those people who made the time to drop off their old electronics at one of these five locations so the devices could be properly recycled,” stated Steve Skurnac, president, Sims Recycling Solutions, Americas. “Perhaps more important, though, is the fact that in the process of setting this record Sims Recycling Solutions diverted thousands of pounds of electronic waste from local landfills and focused much-needed attention on why recycling electronics is necessary.”

In North America, Sims Recycling Solutions operates 14 sites in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Ontario, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Black Hat Survey: 36% of Information Security Professionals Have Engaged in Retaliatory Hacking nCircle Survey Examines Views of 181 Attendees at Annual IT Security Conference

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an Francisco, CA—nCircle recently announced the results of a survey of 181 attendees of the Black Hat USA 2012 security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

When asked “Have you ever engaged in retaliatory hacking?” 64% said “never”, 23% said “once”, and 13% said “frequently”.

The information security community is divided on the practice of retaliatory hacking. Some information security professionals believe retaliatory attacks may discourage further attacks, while others believe these attacks are only likely to escalate hostilities, and increased attacks have the potential to do irreparable damage.

“Retaliatory hacking is a huge topic at Black Hat this year, but we should take these survey results with a grain of salt,” said Tim ‘TK’ Keanini, CTO for nCircle.

“It’s safe to assume some respondents don’t want to admit they use retaliatory tactics. It’s very tempting to strike back out of anger and frustration. However, as

4 Security Shredding & Storage News. July / August 2012

infuriating as cyber criminals can be, this ‘eye for an eye’ code of justice can be extremely dangerous.

Keanini added: “There’s a huge difference between a security expert who can qualify attackers and apply appropriate responses and a neophyte who reacts blindly. The best strategy for most companies is to forget retaliation and concentrate on improving their defenses.”

For more information, visit www.ncircle.com.

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Document Shredding Companies Realizing Potential in Medical / Pharma Waste Collection Continued from page 3 were previously paying for medical waste services alone.

Paper Tiger, which Funke purchased in 2004, handles some 500,000 pounds of paper monthly. Medi-Waste transports approximately 20,000 pounds of medical waste each month. The companies employ a total of 14 workers.

Medi-Waste currently only transports medical waste to a third-party processor.

That is expected to change before the end of the year, when the company completes a new 7,500-square-foot building and installs the same type of autoclave used at MedSharps to handle treatment and disposal of medical waste.

Funke also is on track to franchise Medi-Waste to other parts of the country.

Initially, those franchisees will only transport medical waste to third-party processors, due to the prohibitive cost of an autoclave.

McGuire says that is the way document destruction companies typically get into the medical waste industry. He compares the transport of medical waste to an established permitted treatment facility to on-site shredding companies who haul their loads to a local recycler.

Document destruction companies aren’t the only businesses looking to get into the medical waste business. Funke cites a medical billing company in Lincoln that entered the market. And Lynch notes that “quite a number of companies” that provide unrelated to services to hospitals also are looking into handling medical waste.

“I’m not surprised there’s a lot of interest out there,” Lynch says. “In terms of what they need to know or think about, what I tell clients is they really need to understand how complicated and detailed this is going to be. They need to take the time to do their planning because healthcare waste is a really unique waste stream.

Any service provider needs to understand that waste stream in detail. They need to understand that the regulations related to the management and transportation of medical waste are extensive and diverse. They’re not easy to categorize. And they’re often difficult to understand in the context of all of the other regulations.”

“I would not discourage a company from trying to get into the business,” she adds. “I just think it’s important for them to understand that it’s very involved, and they need to do the research to understand the market.”

Companies wanting to get into the medical waste industry may also have to contend with competition, including behemoth Stericycle, the nation’s largest provider of medical waste services.

“You have to have the intestinal fortitude to compete against a very large, very well funded publicly traded company with a national presence that’s been doing it for 25-plus years,” McGuire advises.

He adds that document destruction companies may find the medical waste industry a wide open market compared to the shred industry.

“The upside is, in comparison to the shredding industry — where there’s 1,400 independent and three or four national service providers — in the medical waste community you really have one large national, publicly traded organization and just under 300 independent providers in the United States,” he says. “It’s nearly one-fifth as competitively intensive as the shredding industry.”

Both Funke and Marshall say they have no regrets about moving into the medical waste arena. Marshall admits he has been surprised at how fast MedSharps

From L to R, Bill Jewitt (CEO) and Rob Marshall (Pres) formulated their MedSharps partnership is 2009. has grown, prompting him to more than triple the number of employees between 2008 and today. Marshall Shredding handles about 300 tons of paper monthly, while MedSharps does the same volume or slightly more.

“I feel it was a very wise move for us,” Funke says of Medi-Waste. “The beauty of medical waste is that at the end of the day, I’m picking up medical waste in a $60,000 straight truck and not a $250,000 shredding truck.”

McGuire predicts those getting into the medical waste industry today will face a bright future, especially with the huge increase of people who will be able to obtain medical care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “It’s a great industry,” he says of medical waste. “It’s been around for a while.

It’s not going to go anywhere. It’s recession resistant, much like the shredding industry. There’s always going to be medical waste and with Obamacare in the future, there’s expected to be a 30 percent pop in volume, driven largely by the uninsured now being insured.”

Marshall admits that while getting into the medical waste industry was the right move for him, it may not be for everybody. “It‘s definitely a lot dirtier of a job than what we are accustomed to. Document storage, document imaging would be a lot cleaner, simpler process. You’ve got to deal with some pretty smelly disgusting stuff,” he adds. “There is the ‘ick factor’ that goes with it.”

Interested In Knowing More About the Medical Waste Industry?

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he first annual Security Shredding / Medical Waste Conference will take place in Orlando, Florida (November 3-5, 2013). This event will feature a large array of equipment and product companies who supply to both the document shredding and medical waste industries. It will also include some outstanding educational sessions to help business owners better understand the steps they will need to take to enter into the medical/pharmaceutical waste field, in addition to a host of sessions focusing specifically on the document and product destruction business. Although exhibit space opportunities will be limited through invitation, registration will be open to everyone who owns a document shredding and/or medical waste transport business. We are also planning a healthcare waste management seminar at the same venue, which will attract decision makers from some of the nation’s major hospitals. If you are interested in attending, please email us at: downassoc2@oh.rr.com and we will be happy to send you a registration packet as soon as they are available.

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In the News Mining Our Trash More Rewarding Than Mining Mines, Say Experts

Senate Bill Would Diminish Time Element for Reporting Data Breaches

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ccra, Ghana--Urban mining deposits are 40 to 50 times more productive than the ore from mines, said experts from 12 countries at the kick-off meeting of the e-Waste Academy in Accra, Ghana by the United Nations University, the Solving the E-Waste Problem Initiative and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative.

The GeSI said that some 320 tons of gold and over 7,500 tons of silver, or $21 billion worth, about 75% of that in gold, are utilized annually in the making of our electronics gadgets. It is vital that they not be lost forever, but today, only 15% or less of these resources is recovered through e-waste recycling.

The percentage of e-waste collected in countries with an established recycling presence is thought to be up to 80-90%, as a high-tech recycling facility can save up to 5%, but about half of the gold in e-waste, is lost in developing countries with backyard recycling processes The GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy was started to help create networks for sharing information, ideas and best practices to find e-waste solutions that enhance recycling, avoid unnecessary waste and lead to a green economy. E-waste must be thought of not as a burden but as an opportunity, was the message given at the academy, by looking at it as a “resource management.” Future generations will look back on our era as one which let valuable resources go to waste.

Other resources, such as copper, tin, cobalt, and palladium, create potential health and environmental dangers. It was also noted that recycling only half the plastics in European Union e-waste would save 5 million kilowatt hours of energy, over 3 million barrels of oil in feedstock and some 2 million tons of CO2 emissions.

ashington, DC—The Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2012, a bill sponsored by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Dean Heller (R-NV) would eliminate deadlines for reporting the breach of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy data, reports csoonline.com. Currently, HIPAA and the Federal Trade Commission require notification of health information breaches within 60 days, but a patchwork of conflicting state laws regarding data disclosure can make adherence a problem in multi-state cases.

The pending bill, which sets a national standard for data breach notification that would trump state law, does not mention a specific deadline, saying that notification of a security breach “shall be made as expeditiously as practicable and without unreasonable delay, consistent with any measures necessary to determine the scope of the security breach and restore the reasonable integrity of the data system that was breached.”

It also defines a breach as unauthorized access plus acquisition of data and sets maximum damages of $500,000 for a breach. The bill requires companies to take “reasonable measures” to protect data and says that if data are “encrypted, redacted, or secured by any other method or technology that renders the data elements unusable,” having those data stolen would not be considered a breach. Experts say that the idea of rendering data “unusable” is a hard one to guarantee, and that there is too much room for interpretation of what could constitute “reasonable measures.”

This bill is one of several recent cyber security bills, but it does not address penalties for computer criminals, voluntary information sharing, protection of critical infrastructure, intrusion prevention and privacy called for by the White House.

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In the News GAO Says Federal Agencies Need to Follow Federal Privacy Guidelines, Make Practices Conform to New IT Challenges

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ashington, DC—Greg Wilshusen, director of information security issues with the Government Accountability Office, has testified that federal agencies do not do enough to protect personally identifiable information, may not be fully adhering to key privacy principles, and may not be effectively notifying citizens about government use of personal information. This written testimony was made at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on oversight of government management, the federal workforce, and the District of Columbia, according to informationweek.com.

Wilshusen recommended that Congress update federal laws to reflect recent changes in how agencies use personal information and consider a better balance between privacy and the government’s need to know. He also saw ongoing problems in preventing data breaches, saying that agencies need to use the guidelines created

by GAO, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the inspectors general at several agencies to better safeguard data security. Wilshusen says that serious security breaches in federal IT systems have jeopardized personal information, with breaches increasing by nearly 680% in six years, with over 36% of these involving unauthorized disclosures of personal identifiable data.

GAO had three concerns about changes that need to be made: The Privacy Act of 1974 established protections for personal information, but limited it to when the information is part of a “system of records” defined by the act. Now, changes in IT let agencies obtain information in ways that fall outside that definition. “Factors such as these have led experts to agree that the Privacy Act’s system-of-records construct is too narrowly defined,” Wilshusen’s statement read. “An alternative for addressing these issues could include revising the ... definition to cover all personally identifiable information collected, used, and maintained systematically by the federal government.”

A second concern is that personal information be used only for stated purposes.

The E-Government Act of 2002 and OMB guidelines have requirements for describing reasons for collecting and use ot personal information. Having unnecessarily broad purpose statements does not put meaningful limits on data collection. “Examples for alternatives for addressing these issues include setting specific limits on the use of information within agencies and requiring agencies to establish formal agreements with external government entities before sharing” personal identifiable information, Wilshusen testified.

Wilshusen also brought up the requirement for agencies to publish notices in the Federal Register regarding the information they collect, the categories of individuals covered, and how the information will be used. “An expert panel convened for GAO questioned whether system-of-records notices published in the Federal Register effectively inform the public about government uses of personal information,” Wilshusen testified, adding that it might be better to require that privacy notices be published on a standard website.

Paper Records Impede Healthcare Delivery

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tlanta, GA—Inefficient paper records are choking the U.S. healthcare industry and impeding delivery of even better patient care, according to Albert Woodard, CEO of Atlanta-based Business Computer Applications.

Woodard says the current system, clogged with paper records, makes it difficult to coordinate care, routinely measure quality, reduce medical errors and react to emergency situations following natural or man-made disasters. The situation will only get worse, he says, with the 80 million baby boomers now signing up for Medicare at a rate of 7,000 a day and with the federal government’s planned overhaul of health care expected to add 32 million more patients overall.

Studies show the U.S. trails a number of other countries in the use of EMR systems, with only 15-20%t of U.S. physicians’ offices and 20-25 % of hospitals adopting such systems.

“Hospitals, doctors, clinics and others are reluctant to adopt systems due to standardization, concerns about privacy, but mostly uncertainty about what’s happening in the health care industry, particularly the health care law currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court,” Woodard says. “Physicians can take laptops, iPads and smart phones from room to room or building to building. The tools exist now to give every provider and patient access to all information necessary to prevent errors, improve patient satisfaction and improve outcomes.”

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In the News Improper Disposal Claim Fought by E-Recycler Intercon

HIPAA: Ignorance is No Excuse, Says Appeals Court

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ccording to EnvironmentalLeader.com, e-waste recycling company Intercon Solutions has filed a defamation suit against the watchdog group Basel Action Network (BAN) for surreptitiously collecting information at the company’s facilities.

According to the lawsuit, BAN, which monitors toxic dumping, supposedly visited the company’s facility under the guise that it was performing an audit for Intercon’s pending e-Stewards certification. Intercon contends BAN was really there to collect evidence.

Also named in the suit is BAN executive director, James Puckett.

BAN contends that it observed Intercon shipping hazardous electronic waste in freight containers from Chicago Heights, IL to China in violation of the UN’s Basel Convention. The non-profit group reported this to R-2 a firm that grants environmental safety certification, or e-Stewards, to companies that follow strict guidelines.

Intercon denies ownership of the containers, alleging that trespassers deposited them and loaded them with the hazardous waste. Intercon has filed a petition with the Cook County Circuit Court to force BAN to substantiate its claims and provide documentation backing up its claims (export declarations, bill of lading, waybills and packing lists of invoices). Intercon was applying for e-Stewards certification at the time BAN notified R-2.

BAN’s report prompted e-waste certification firm R-2 to immediately de-list Intercon.

os Angeles—An employee need not be aware of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy laws to be guilty of violating them, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. When a research assistant at the University of California at Los Angeles Health System, Huping Zhou, was fired for continued serious job deficiencies and poor judgment, he retaliated by examining the personal healthcare records of coworkers and celebrities who had been seen at UHS. He was charged with a misdemeanor under HIPAA, but sought to dismiss the charge because he said he was not aware that getting this information was illegal.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said he was guilty because that the law defines the crime as obtaining individually identifiable health information for a purpose other than permitted under law.

Zhou appealed the decision, but the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling and Zhou’s misdemeanor charge, saying his knowledge of the law was irrelevant. To violate the law, Zhou only needed to know that he obtained the identifiable health information of other people.

The ruling can be found in U.S. v. Zhou, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 1050231, 2012.

State Goof Made Social Security Numbers Public

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adison, WI—CBS News.com reports that the Wisconsin state Department of Revenue inadvertently uploaded a real estate sales report containing Social Security and tax identification numbers of more than 110,000 people and businesses.

The information was embedded in a Microsoft Access data file that remained on the Internet and was publically accessible for three months, department officials said. The report is used by real estate professionals for appraising property, advising clients and negotiating prices.

The state said the report had been accessed 138 times before it was removed in August and a new one without the sensitive information was uploaded. Appraisers, real estate agents and others who downloaded it were notified that the new report was available and asked to destroy the old report with the personal information.

While a review of internal procedures for posting reports on the Internet is being made, the state is offering free credit monitoring for a year. The department said it has enacted a number of steps to protect against security fraud, including procedures related to physical security, paper and electronic data security, as well as employee education and training.

Revenue Department spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis noted that because the part of the file with the information was embedded, and didn’t readily display, the risk of identity theft was “relatively small.” No income, corporate or other tax files were affected.

“We weren’t hacked, this wasn’t malicious,” she said.

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• By linking coverage to NAID Certification, policyholders are grouped with other safe insurance risks. Over time, this translates to substantially lower premiums.

• With the support of NAID, Downstream Data is an effective marketing differentiator.

• Eventually Downstream Data will be member-owned, captive insurance, giving policyholders more control.

• The policy can be modified individually or across the board to improve coverage.

Visit www.downstreamdata.com or call Andrea Walton at 800-876-4044.

TM

Downstream Data Coverage® is sold in the United States as a surplus line, claims-made policy through Association Insurance Management. Downstream Data Coverage and the Downstream Data Coverage logo are registered trademarks of the National Association for Information Destruction, Inc.

10 Security Shredding & Storage News. July / August 2012

In the News 2012 AF&PA Sustainability Report Shows Significant, Measurable Progress on Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 2012 Goals

W

ashington—The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) recently released the results of its biennial Sustainability Report, which showed that the U.S. paper, pulp and wood products industry has made significant, measurable progress toward achieving the goals of its Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 sustainability initiative.

“Our member companies responded in force to the challenge of improving upon our proven record of sustainability leadership,” said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. “Thanks to the efforts of our members, we have made substantial progress toward achieving our goals and have significantly raised the bar for defining sustainable manufacturing.”

Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 symbolizes the industry’s commitment to sustainability and is one of the most extensive collections of quantifiable sustainability goals for a major U.S. manufacturing industry. Enhancing this already aggressive collection of goals, AF&PA is establishing a goal to decrease the amount of water used in pulp and paper mills by 12 percent from 2005 to 2020 by measuring the water discharge.

“We have earned a reputation for being a sustainable industry, and the progress we share today demonstrates our continued commitment to sustainable business practices, which in turn makes for a better planet,” said AF&PA Board Chairman Alexander Toeldte, president and CEO of Boise Inc. The progress made toward reaching each goal is reported in the 2012 AF&PA Sustainability Report, which includes: Increased paper recovery for recycling to 66.8 percent in 2011, nearly doubling our rate of paper recovery since 1990.

• Reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 10.5 percent since 2005.

• Reduced Occupational Safety & Health Administration case incident rates by 24 percent since 2006.

• Improved energy efficiency in purchased energy use by 8.1 percent since 2005, adding to the fact that nearly two-thirds of the energy used in our manufacturing facilities is produced through carbon-neutral biomass.

• Increased fiber procured from certified forestlands to 24 percent and increased fiber procured through certified fiber sourcing programs to 96 percent from 87 percent in 2005. AF&PA members also continued to work with governments and stakeholders on effective policies to combat illegal logging.

• Reduced water used at member pulp and paper mills by 6 percent since 2005. AF&PA members have established a new goal to reduce water used in member pulp and paper mills by 12 percent by 2020.

For more information about Better Practices, Better Planet 2020 and to view the report, visit www.afandpa.org/sustainability.

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Info Request #157

FDA Investigates Medical Device Document Breach

N

ew York, NY—According to a Wall Street Journal report the FDA is investigating how Quality Associates Inc. of Fulton, MD, inadvertently made public 75,000 pages of confidential information related to the government agency’s review and approval of medical devices.

Quality Associates was hired by the FDA to print materials and make them available to various parties in litigation between the agency and five scientists, former employees of its medical devices center. The confidential files were posted on the Internet as recently as this spring, but quickly pulled. The documents, mostly emails between five current and former agency scientists, discussed the FDA’s medical device evaluation process. Details of design, performance and testing of various medical devices, such as those used for colonoscopy and breast cancer imaging, were publicly accessible when the documents were posted online.

In 2008, the scientists began to criticize the agency’s medical device application and review process. They subsequently took their safety concerns to Congress and President Obama’s transition team.

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Security Shredding & Storage News. July / August 2012 11

In the News Increase in Paper Recycling Spells Jobs

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12 Security Shredding & Storage News. July / August 2012

he United States has a long way to go toward achieving sustainability when it comes to paper recycling, according to a report on GreenTechnologyWorld.com.

More than 90% of the printing and writing paper made in this country today is still virgin paper. This surprising figure has been publicized by Conservatree, a former paper distribution company, now a nonprofit which supplies sustainability information and strategies to the paper industry.

The popularity of paper recycling initiatives has diminished somewhat in recent years. Along with the drop in collections and collection volume, construction of paper recycling plants has slowed. Distributors, printers and paper mills say that demand has been decreasing because buyers believe they no longer have to ask for recycled product.

Apparently, many people assume that most paper is recycled.

That’s not the case. Most paper companies operate mills that use post-consumer paper waste, such as printing-writing paper, magazines and newspapers, but they continue to run plants that use virgin raw material. The American Forest and Paper Association estimates that Americans currently collect only about 57 percent of printing-writing paper through recycling efforts. With at least 75 percent of all paper products recoverable, the United States could feasibly collect over nine million more tons of printing-writing paper annually.

And, there are additional incentives for stepping up paper recycling. In its report, “More Jobs, Less Pollution,” the National Resources Defense Council found that for every 1,000 tons of paper that are recycled rather than sent to a landfill, between one and two jobs are created for paper collection; two jobs are created for paper processing; and four jobs are created for recycled paper manufacturing.

“Increasing our recycling rather than dumping trash in landfills will create nearly 1.5 million jobs that are sorely needed, and will benefit the environment,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters Union general president. “The Teamsters are interested in creating good, green jobs.”

Waste Management Lets 700 Go, Names Trevathan as COO

H

ouston, TX—Waste Management is planning to cut 700 jobs as part of a realignment of its corporate structure, reports chron.com. The company did not say how many of the cuts would be at the national headquarters in Houston, home base of over 2,300 people, but they are expected to be few. The company also said that it has appointed James E. Trevathan, Jr., the former executive vice president for growth, innovation and field support, as its new chief operating officer.

The cuts represent 2% of the workforce and are expected to be made throughout the national structure of the firm as managers are cut in the various regions of the firm. The plan will improve workflow and better meet the needs of customers, says WM. The movc is seen as a cost-cutting measure in response to continued weaker prices for certain commodities.

The company is anticipating a third quarter pre-tax charge to earnings of about $50-$60 million as part of the job cutting strategy as separation agreements are made, and announced second quarter earnings of $208 million net income, versus $237 million, for the second quarter of 2011. Excluding the 2012 charge of $32 million in one-time after-tax charges, net income would have been $240 million, or $0.52 per diluted share. Revenues for the second quarter of 2012, says the firm, were $3.46 billion, compared with $3.35 billion in 2011.

In the News NAID Launches Industry Blog

P

hoenix, AZ—The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) recently announced the creation of NAIDnotes, a weekly industry blog located on NAID’s website.

“A blog is essential to any company’s marketing strategy,” said NAID Director of Communications Kristina Carlberg. “No longer are consumers turning to static company websites for information. They are researching blogs and starting discussions on social media sites before purchasing anything.”

According to NAID, this blog is an opportunity to give valuable and regular information to NAID members and consumers. It allows NAID to build awareness about secure destruction industry issues, initiatives, and legislation through the eyes and ears of experts like respected CEOs, policymakers, consultants, board members, authors, and speakers. NAIDnotes is an extension of www.naidonline.org and supports the content and discussions generated on its social media pages.

New Jersey Moves to Regulate Scrap Metal Sales

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amden, NJ—According to an article in the Gloucester County Times (gctimes.com), a tight economy and, according to some, loose wraps on the cash-for-scrap business are combining to make certain metals more vulnerable to theft. Brass from cemetery grave markers is being lifted, as is copper from air conditioning systems, and power lines for trains. It’s happening with increasing frequency and has caused enough of a stir that the state of New Jersey is considering legislation to put a crimp on it.

The proposed regulation is aimed at the supply side of the equation. At present, dealers must maintain records on sales over 100 pounds of material, or $50. When Camden tried imposing more stringent rules on its scrap dealers earlier this year, the dealers rallied and the legislation was defeated. The dealers have argued they already play a role in nabbing dishonest scrap customers. They call for more cooperation by law enforcement in terms of information sharing so they can be on the lookout for hot items. Some say they have been doing their part by installing database software and surveillance systems, plus photographing and keeping lists and drivers’ license copies of their customers, and making them available for review by the police. Some dealers do favor regulation, but at the state level, as opposed to city or county levels.

Additionally, similar regulations in neighboring states would prevent the exodus of business across state lines, they say.

The New Jersey bill is being co-sponsored by Assemblymen Gilbert “Whip” Wilson, D-Camden, and Celeste Riley, D-Bridgeton.

NAID Forms Task Force to Study Destruction of Information on SSDs

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he National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) has announced the creation of a task force of respected electronics data destruction industry professionals and outside consultants to develop a standard for what constitutes “reasonable” destruction of information stored on solid state drives (SSDs). This task force will consider the attendant technology, knowledge, expense, and likelihood of accessing or reconstructing meaningful data.

According to NAID Chief Compliance Officer Holly Vandervort, “Every data protection regulation in the developed world is based on the principle of reasonableness, a standard which can only be determined by understanding the risks and technology. This task force will attempt to develop a body of knowledge that consumers can use to make informed decisions on their SSD disposition strategy.”

The task force will evaluate and establish the reasonableness of physical destruction as well as sanitization of SSDs. Sanitization, a process used to erase data on conventional hard drives, involves the overwriting or removal of the data in a manner that allows the reuse of the device.

SSDs are now used in the vast majority of mobile/smart phones and, increasingly, as a replacement for conventional hard drives in computers due to their high capacity, low energy consumption and relatively small size.

“A limited number of studies on the effectiveness of SDD sanitization have produced contradictory findings,” said Robert Haskins, CEO of Gigabiter, Inc. and co-chair of the NAID task force. “While we will certainly evaluate these studies, we also plan to commission new research.”

Angie Keating, CEO of Reclamere, Inc., will join Haskins as co-chair of the NAID SSD task force. The rest of the group consists of Dag Adamson (Lifecycle Technology Recycling); Gary Moore (Sprint); J. Martin Garcia (Reagan Wireless); Craig Boswell (Hobi International); and Todd Barelmann, CSDS (Cascade Asset Management).

“NAID is very proud to have assembled such a diverse team of secure data destruction professionals and stakeholders,” said NAID CEO Bob Johnson. “The quality and integrity of this team will undoubtedly lead to practical and trustworthy guidance for the destruction of data on SSDs.”

Boston Hospital Fined for Security Breach

B

oston—Securitymanagement.com reports that Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has announced a settlement for South Shore Hospital to pay $750,000 for a 2010 security breach in which three boxes of 472 unencrypted computer tapes were shipped to an offsite location in Texas to be erased and recycled. Two of the three went astray.South Shore’s fine includes a $250,000 civil penalty, $225,000 to support a program on protecting health information, and $275,000 for security measures taken since the breach.

South Shore failed to inform Archive Data, the company hired to erase the tapes, that they contained protected information such as names, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and health plan information including medical diagnoses and financial information. This violated both federal and state law as South Shore did not ensure Archive Data had procedures to safeguard the information. The lawsuit was filed under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It is thought that the missing boxes are in a landfill, and there have been no reports of unauthorized information being used. The tapes are seen as needing specialized knowledge and financial resources to be able to decipher and use.

According to the consent judgment, South Shore Hospital has agreed to take a variety of steps in order to ensure compliance with state and federal data security laws and regulations, including requirements regarding its contracts with business associates and third-party service providers engaged for data destruction purposes.

The hospital also agreed to undergo a review and audit of certain security measures and to report the results and any corrective actions to the attorney general.

www.chachkagroup.com chachka@chachkagroup.com

Security Shredding & Storage News. July / August 2012 13

Security Shredding & Storage News

Breaking Bad Reviews: How to Protect Your Small Business Online

BY JOHN S. RIZZO AND V. MICHAEL SANTORO

I

t happens all the time: The hard-working crew at a small business loses customers thanks to the sour grapes of one person. It could be a disgruntled employee, an angry customer or even a competitor, says V. Michael Santoro, coauthor with John S. Rizzo of Niche Dominance: Creating Order Out of Your Digital Marketing Chaos (www.NicheDominance.com).

“Anyone can post a bad review online and hurt your business,” says Santoro, who is a managing partner with Rizzo of Globe On-Demand, an internet technology company. “Unfortunately, most business owners are not even aware that these bad reviews are out there.”

Seventy-two percent of buyers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 70 percent trust consumer opinions posted online, according to a recent Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey.

“A bad review published in a newspaper, or broadcast on radio or TV, is shortlived, but a bad review posted online can live indefinitely,” says Rizzo. “With consumers now researching an average of 10 reviews before making a buying decision, and 70 percent trusting a business that has a minimum of six reviews posted, business owners need to be proactive in developing their online reputation.

You need several positive reviews.”

Online searches have been streamlined, combining reviews with maps, pay-perclick advertising, local business directories and Facebook Fan pages, Santoro says.

As damaging as bad reviews can be, positive reviews can be equally constructive, he says.

Rizzo and Santoro offer an Internet marketing strategy called “reputation marketing,” described in the following steps: •

Develop a 5-Star Reputation: Begin by having your happy customers post

great reviews about your business. Strive to have at least 10. Have each post to one of the following: Google Plus Local, Yelp, CitySearch, SuperPages, YP.com, your Facebook Fan page, etc. This needs to be a continuous process.

Proactively ask your customers to post reviews.

•

Market Your Reputation: Once reviews are posted, use a well-designed online

•

Manage Your Reputation: Regularly check that the reviews being posted are

•

Create a Reputation Marketing Culture: Train your staff to proactively ask customers

marketing strategy to drive targeted traffic to your website. Ensure that your website can convert this traffic into customers. Additionally, showcase these third-party reviews on your website.

positive. You can use Google Alerts for your business name; however, you will need to check the local directories, too, since they’re not picked up by Google Alerts. By building up the positive reviews, you can counter a poor one by sheer volume. You should also quickly post a reply to a negative review if they occur.

Always be professional and indicate what action you have taken to remedy the situation.

for reviews and to deal immediately with any customer who appears unhappy.

A positive culture will encourage customers to post positive reviews about your business.

John S. Rizzo obtained his bachelor’s in business administration and spent three years as a consultant for Amazon.com’s publishing group. He has assisted several businesses with digital marketing strategy and has served in leadership positions for multiple initiatives for the Charleston, S.C.-Area Chamber of Commerce.

V. Michael Santoro has more than 10 years in the digital marketing field. His prior experience includes international senior marketing positions in technology fields. He has a master’s degree from Central Connecticut State University and an undergraduate degree from the University of New Haven. Santoro was an adjunct professor with the computer science department of Western Connecticut State University.

Product/Equipment Profiles eRouteIt™ Introduces Business Management Software for Document Shredding/Medical Waste Markets

e

RouteIt™ is a business management application designed to help medical waste and shredding service companies securely manage their daily business operations. It was designed to simplify the steps needed to build and optimize routes and to electronically manage the ancillary paperwork required to ensure compliance for the service provider and their customers. eRouteIt™ was designed to be more than just routing software. It was designed to be a complete business management tool for the entire organization. Its licensing places no user restrictions on the system to ensure everyone in the company can access and utilize this tool to help them perform their job functions better and to consolidate the information they receive and create, thus increasing the overall value of the business.

Its real strength is in its simplicity to use - taking the key elements of CRM, routing and mapping, electronic document management and billing to provide a complete end-to-end business solution that integrates with off-the-shelf accounting software like Quick Books.

For more information contact Brad Moncur at 402-261-4067 or brad.moncur@erouteit.com or visit www.erouteit.com.

14 Security Shredding & Storage News. July / August 2012

Vecoplan Introduces VNZ 80 XL Dual Shaft Shredder

V

ecoplan recently introduced their new VNZ 80 XL dual shaft shredder.

Unlike conventional “pierce & tear” dual shaft paper shredders, the VNZ 80 XL still delivers the numerous advantages inherent to Vecoplan shredders. Plus, the absence of a feed ram provides the VNZ 80 XL with one of the smallest footprint available on a machine of this performance level.

The VNZ 80 XL produces a consistent shredded particle, with the ability to change and control the particle size through quickly and easily changed screens. The two rotors built into the machine are Vecoplan’s patented Torsion Point™ “U” rotors. Rotating at low speeds and high torques, the cutting rotors produce high throughputs at low noise levels and are virtually jam free.

Other features of the VNZ 80 XL dual shaft shredder, include the ability to shred a wide variety of materials and true dump & run operation. Fed from the top via a hopper, entire containers of plastic waste, wood processing scrap, medical waste, paper, cardboard or almost any type of waste can be dumped into the hopper and processed with no further operator interaction.

For more information contact Vecoplan at 336-861-6070 or info@vecoplanllc.com or visit www.Vecoplan.com

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