Four in Ten (39%) American Small Business Owners Have No Policy For Storing and Disposing of Confidential Paper Files
New York, NY – While mobile and digital office tools continue to evolve, many still rely on paper documents, potentially exposing them to information security risks. A new Ipsos poll for Shred-It reveals that four in ten (39%) American small business owners (SBOs) lack any sort of policy for managing their confidential paper. Further, three in ten SBOs (32%) SBOs think that loss or theft of paper documents would not damage their organization, while three in ten (31%) think that a potential data breach wouldn’t have a significant impact on their organization. By comparison, only 6% of American C-suite executives don’t have a policy for managing confidential paper documents, 6% say the theft of any document wouldn’t hurt their business, and just 1% think a data breach wouldn’t have a significant impact.
The seventh annual Shred-It Information Security Tracker Survey shows these opinions come at a time when nearly four in ten (39%) C-suite executives anticipate an increase in the volume of paper their organization will use over the next year, while five in ten (52%) SBOs estimate their paper use will stay approximately the same and 11% think it will increase.
Almost half (49%) of SBOs shred all documents, both confidential and not. One in ten (13%) say they keep their confidential document in a locked console in the office until a professional shredding company destroys the materials.
Less Frequent Disposal of Electronic Devices
Most (96%) large businesses have policies to ensure the safe storage and destruction of electronic devices, but fewer C-suite executives are taking such measures regularly. In 2016, three in four (76%) C-suites said their business disposed of electronic devices, including hard drives, on a quarterly basis or more frequently; this has dropped by 19 points to less than six in ten (57%) in 2017.
This may be contributing to an overall lack of confidence in secure destruction systems. The survey found that nearly half (46%) of SBOs and four in ten C-suites (43%) admit to feeling less than very confident in their secure destruction systems for both paper and electronic media.
Legal Requirements for Document Destruction
Employees at small and large businesses are likely to have different levels of awareness when it comes to the legal requirements for document destruction in their industry: while half (51%) of C-Suites provide training on these requirements at least twice a year, three in ten (36%) SBOs provide no training on this topic at all.
Nearly nine in ten (88%) respondents in the financial, legal and insurance sectors say that they have a strong understanding of legal requirements for the proper handling of confidential information. Staff training on company information security procedures is strongest in the financial, legal and insurance industries, at 81%.
While more than six in ten (65%) respondents working in retailsay that they have a strong understanding of the legal requirements for storing, keeping or disposing confidential materials, only one in ten (12%) use a locked console and a professional shredding service.
Nearly three in ten (28%) respondents working in public servicessay they have no policy for storing and disposing of confidential information on electronic devices, while two in ten (21%) say they don’t have a policy for disposing of paper documents.
One in four (26%) respondents from the real estate industry say that no policy currently exists for the disposal of confidential materials on electronic devices. Two in ten (19%) have some understanding of and somewhat adhere to legal requirements for storing, keeping, or destroying confidential information; however, not daily.
Equally, one in four (24%) respondents working in business services industries say their company has no existing policy to deal with storing and disposing of sensitive paper documents. Nearly as many (23%) say they have some understanding and somewhat adhere to their industry’s legal requirements for storing and disposing of confidential information, but not on a daily basis.
Ipsos conducted a quantitative online survey of two distinct sample groups: small business owners in the United States (n=1,000), and C-Suite Executives working for businesses in the United States with a minimum of 500 employees (n=100). The precision of Ipsos online surveys are calculated via a credibility interval. In this case, the U.S. SBO sample is considered accurate to within +/- 3.5 percentage points had all small business owners been surveyed, and the U.S. C-Suite sample is accurate to within +/- 11.2 percentage points had all C-Suites been surveyed. The fieldwork was conducted between February 15, 2017 and February 28, 2017.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Vice President, Canada
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 416 324-2002
[email protected]
About Ipsos
Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With offices in 88 countries, Ipsos delivers insightful expertise across five research specializations: brand, advertising and media, customer loyalty, marketing, public affairs research, and survey management. Ipsos researchers assess market potential and interpret market trends. They develop and build brands. They help clients build long-term relationships with their customers. They test advertising and study audience responses to various media and they measure public opinion around the globe. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999 and generated global revenues of €1,669.5 ($2,218.4 million) in 2014.
