| The next time you stand by the office paper | | | | Another notorious disaster fueled by incompetent |
| shredder absentmindedly feeding outdated or | | | | document shredding was the 2001 Enron |
| sensitive documents through, keep in mind that | | | | accountancy scandal. Much of the incriminating |
| insufficient document shredding was a key factor in | | | | evidence in the Enron scandal was gathered from |
| one of the largest US hostage crises in history. | | | | shredded documents, as many of the documents in |
| In November of 1979 fifty two US citizens were | | | | the Enron accountancy scandal were fed through the |
| taken hostage after a group of angry students took | | | | shredder the wrong way (parallel rather than |
| over the US Embassy in Iran. Although the student's | | | | perpendicular to the shredder blades) making them |
| (calling themselves Muslim Student Followers of the | | | | easier to reassemble. |
| Imam's Line) initial plan was to hold the hostages for | | | | Since these incidences of major breaches in security, |
| only a few days, a week max, the US hostages | | | | whether the outcomes were positive or negative, |
| were finally released on January 20, 1981, 444 days | | | | there is a high demand for more secure methods of |
| later. | | | | sensitive document shredding. Following the Iranian |
| What was the reason for the prolonged captivity? | | | | hostage crisis of 1979 the U.S. government has |
| Insufficient document shredding. Really. After the | | | | employed document shredding techniques including |
| recently fallen Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, | | | | pulverizing, pulping, and chemical decomposition. |
| was allowed into the United States for cancer | | | | Many companies and offices no longer handle their |
| treatment, 300 to 500 angry Iranian students | | | | own document shredding with common office paper |
| stormed the US embassy in Tehran, convinced that | | | | shredders that have proven to be so unreliable. |
| the embassy was a center of opposition to the new | | | | Instead of risking having their shredding documents |
| government and "Satan's den of espionage." | | | | stolen and reconstructed, making all kinds of sensitive |
| Shortly after taking over the building, radical | | | | and private information available, many companies |
| revolutionary students reconstructed and displayed | | | | choose to outsource their document shredding to |
| confidential documents that U.S. diplomats and office | | | | shredding services. |
| personnel had frantically shredded as they were being | | | | These companies either shred on-site, with mobile |
| invaded. This rushed document shredding job proved | | | | shredder trucks or have off-site shredding facilities. All |
| disastrous, as is helped strengthen radical Iranian | | | | shredded paper is then sent to a paper mill where |
| claims that the U.S. was working in conjunction with | | | | the material is recycled and turned back into paper. |
| Iranian moderates to destabilize the new regime. The | | | | This gives the peace of mind of knowing that all |
| Iranian regime later published the recovered | | | | confidential material stays confidential, with no risk of |
| documents in a series of books called "Documents | | | | unauthorized eyes finding and publicizing your |
| from the US espionage Den". | | | | companies' or your clients' private information. |