shredding

A Nightmare on Shred Street 2: Data’s Revenge

Like any Hollywood nightmare, a sequel is always in the offing, and identity theft just isn’t going away. With that in mind, the second annual “A Nightmare on Shred Street” event was held on Monday, October 23. In support of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Information Technology Services teamed up with Lethbridge Mobile Shredding to offer free shredding of personal documents, hard drive degaussing, and e-waste recycling at the University of Lethbridge.

In just four hours, this public event helped more than 100 people protect themselves from identity fraud by shredding over 2000 gallons of paper documents, as well as several hundred magnetic and other non-paper items (credit cards, cell phones, CDs, floppy disks, etc.) containing personal information. Over 3.5 cubic metres of electronic waste was collected and sent for recycling. A degausser was on site to demagnetize and erase 49 hard drives before recycling.

Donations for the University of Lethbridge campus food bank were gratefully accepted. The event raised $375 and collected 120 food items, which is enough for about seven hampers, to help University of Lethbridge students through the end of the fall term. Seven functioning laptops were also salvaged from recycling, with permission from the donors, and will be wiped clean and donated to the Operation Underground Railroad organization, which helps children escape from trafficking and slavery.

All of this more than doubles the numbers from last year’s event! Information Technology Services acknowledges the generous support of Lethbridge Mobile Shredding, DBS Environmental, Campus Safety, Facilities, and the many individual people who came together to make it happen.

Community Shredding Event

In an effort to promote the secure destruction of personal information and the prevention of identity theft, the AMA is sponsoring a free event where community members can bring their sensitive documents and electronic storage items (not including hard drives) to be destroyed by a professional shredding service.  The event will be held on Saturday March 23, 2013 from 10am – 2pm at the AMA Lethbridge Centre
located at 120 Scenic Dr. South.  For more information on how to participate, please visit the event website.