Question

If possible at either your place of employment or your school, attempt to determine how easy it would be to perform dumpster diving to gain access to information at the site. are trash receptacles easy to gain access to? are documents shredded before being discarded? are areas where trash is stored easily accessible?

Answer 1

Working for a mental health agency, it is next to impossible to access information. Our agency is required by law to maintain all client records for 7 years in a secured area (limited access by Executive Director & Director of Operations, No access by employees). After 7 years they are to be disposed of properly. Our agency shreds our documents personally as to not allow a private company to do so, hence there is no breach of confidentiality. Then a private company (document disposal company) removes the shredded documentation for destruction. So it would be impossible (or at least, improbable) to obtain access to our organization information through dumpster diving.