Identity theft, fraud, forgery, white collar crimes and information breaches are all a part of the world we live in today. No longer can the average citizen, business or government organization afford to be careless with their vital information.

As these crimes become more prevalent, people and organizations are seeking out high security paper shredders. In the past, these shredders were solely used for top secret organizations, but now they are becoming mainstream. You might be asking, "can I get by with the shredder I’ve always used?" Well, to answer that question you need to get a better understanding of the differences between paper shredders.

Just like departments of federal governments, paper shredders are classified based on their security level. The security level of a shredder increases by number, so the least secure shredders are Level 1 shredders while the most secure shredders are Level 6 shredders. Typical home paper shredders are level 3-4 shredders. So, how does a shredder get a designation?

Basically, a shredder gets is security level based on the shredded particle size. Security Level 1 shredders tend to have huge paper particles while Level 6 shredders have much smaller paper particles, similar to dust. Any Level 5 or Level 6 paper shredder would be classified as a high security paper shredder. We put this list together to help clarify the difference between the various paper shredders out there:

• Security Level 1 – Shredders at this level are designed for shredding general records.

• Security Level 2 – These are designed for shredding documents such as printouts or erroneous photocopies of important information.

• Security Level 3 – This is the level of your typical home shredder. This is the most commonly found shredder in homes and small businesses.

• Security Level 4 – This is the second most common security level after level 3, but this level is intended to shred highly confidential documents such as bank statements and pertinent financial information.

• Security Level 5 – This is a top secret security level that is used by many of the defense departments around the world. This is definitely a high security paper shredder.

• Security Level 6- This is the level used by guys in unmarked buildings driving all black cars with tinted windows. If you want to really wipe your secrets from the planet, this will insure that they are gone.This is the highest level of paper shredders out there.

Whatever your shredding needs are, this should be a good outline of what a high security paper shredder is all about and if you need one.