NAID

NAID is the international trade association for companies providing information destruction services. Suppliers of products, equipment and services to destruction companies are also eligible for membership. NAID's mission is to promote the information destruction industry and the standards and ethics of its member companies.

NAID offers a voluntary annual operations certification program to its member companies. Through the program, NAID Active Members may seek annual certification audits for both Mobile and Plant-based operations. Only security professionals with the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) accreditation conduct the audits. The CPP accreditation is issued by the American Society for Industrial Security.

The NAID Certification Program establishes standards for a secure destruction process including such areas as security, employee hiring and screening, operational destruction process, and insurance.

When a NAID Member passes the audit, they are issued a certificate, showing the company name, NAID Certification level, and the specific location of the NAID Certified operation.

Basic information regarding information disposal:

• Every business has information that requires destruction
• Stored records should be destroyed on a regular schedule
• Incidental business records discarded on a daily basis should be protected
• Recycling is not an adequate alternative for information destruction
• A Certificate of Destruction does not relieve a company from its obligation to keep information confidential
• Most records storage companies do not have the equipment to provide shredding services
• Internal personnel should not be responsible to destroy certain information
• Information protection is a vital issue to senior management

For more information on NAID you can visit http://www.naidonline.org/