In 2001, 750,000 people were victims of identity theft in the U.S. It is considered a dual crime in that it is a crime against the individual whose identity has been stolen and the financial institution or credit card company. Among the many ways these thieves obtain their victim's information some directly affect companies:
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Dumpster Diving -- improperly disposing of confidential records that contain personal information of employees or customers is illegal in most cases and a disservice to all. We can help you properly dispose of client or employee records
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Acquiring Records at Work -- unhappy employees or lax security procedures open your company to liability and your employees and customers to being victimized by disgruntled employees. They may steal their customer or employee information for their own nefarious purposes or sell to identity thieves. We can store those records offsite where they are kept secure and confidential. Our employees have complete background checks, undergo random drug testing and are bonded.
Identity Thieves Can be Locked Up for Two Years
Under a new measure intended to curtail identity theft (America's fastest growing crime) President Bush has signed a new law that adds two years to prison sentences for people convicted in federal courts of using stolen credit card numbers and other personal information to commit crimes. Violators who use such information to commit "terrorist offenses" could receive an extra five years' imprisonment. Sept. 2004
Under a new measure intended to curtail identity theft (America's fastest growing crime) President Bush has signed a new law that adds two years to prison sentences for people convicted in federal courts of using stolen credit card numbers and other personal information to commit crimes. Violators who use such information to commit "terrorist offenses" could receive an extra five years' imprisonment. Sept. 2004
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Current events and SOx:
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Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and world wide
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Criminal trial of Arthur Anderson for destruction of audit records
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Shredding of records to obstruct justice by the Enron Corp.
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Falsification of financial statements by WorldCom
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Judicial sanctions against Disney for destruction of royalty records
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Imclone's document destruction relative to a government investigation by its CEO
In response to the above and more, both houses of Congress passed SAO by 100%.
What does this mean to you? In this political climate you as a leader in your organization must:
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Know what kinds of records are in your organization
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Have an explainable program for managing records
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Have a record retention policy developed "in good faith" from creation to destruction in the document's life cycle
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Have a written audit retention policy and proof that you have performed annual audits
We help you establish policies for managing your records, implement a record retention policy, and perform audits to insure compliance. Keeping records too long is just as bad as not keeping them long enough.
